IRGC Chief Hossein Salami: America ‘Small and Weak’ Because of Iran

Chief of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Gen. Hossein Salami addresses the funeral
AP Photo/Vahid Salemi
Frances Martel

The head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Major General Hossein Salami, declared America “small and weak” in remarks on Monday, crediting the world’s premier state sponsor of terrorism for eroding Washington’s influence on the world stage.

Salami’s belligerent speech joined a growing chorus of aggressive statements from senior Iranian leaders following the “election” of “moderate” Masoud Pezeshkian as the nation’s president this weekend. The only decision-making authority in Iran is “supreme leader” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but Iran maintains an office of the presidency controlled directly by Khamenei and holds “elections” meticulously stage-managed by jihadist clerics to give the appearance of a free society. After disqualifying 95 percent of would-be candidates, the “Guardian Council” held two rounds of voting beginning in late June that resulted in Pezeshkian defeating several “hardliner” extremists.

The presidential “election” cycle this summer was the result of the death of incumbent President Ebrahim Raisi in May, who died alongside Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in a mysterious helicopter crash while attempting to return home from Azerbaijan. Raisi, a former prosecutor and cleric with a reputation for cruelty, led a government defined by the use of deadly violence against peaceful anti-regime protesters and heightened support for radical jihadist organizations in the Middle East.

Pezeshkian is so far using his short time as president-elect to deflect international expectations that he may be open to improving relations with the West, including America, and has more respect for dejected Iranian youth than his predecessor. Aiding in those efforts are senior leaders like Gen. Salami, who dismissed America as a worthy ally in his remarks on Monday.

“The US has become small and weak and has gradually lost its influence because of the friction and erosion that the Islamic Revolution has enforced on it,” Salami claimed, according to the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency.

The state-run PressTV of Iran quoted Salami as resorting to the 1979 takeover of the American embassy in Tehran, the event that precipitated the jihadist “revolution” still in power today in the country, as evidence that Iran was single-handedly responsible for the demise of the United States. Salami reportedly described that event as “beyond imagination.”

“They seized our ships in Gibraltar; We confiscated their ships here and made them regret what they had done,” he reportedly continued. “The embargo [imposed on us] was broken with [our] power. If you are strong, you will overcome isolation.”

“The world is much bigger than the US and that the US is much smaller than the world,” Salami insisted.

Salami also appeared to blame America for the widely successful movement within Iran to boycott the presidential election. The first round of voting on June 28 saw the lowest turnout in the history of the “revolution” at 39 percent, a statistic recognized as a vote of no confidence from the public in the regime. Khamenei himself remarked on the boycott shortly before the runoff vote between Pezeshkian and top rival Saeed Jalili, claiming that the boycott was not meant as a rejection of his regime.

“Supposing that the people who did not vote in the first round (of the presidential election) are opposed to the establishment is a totally wrong interpretation,” Khamenei reportedly insisted last week.

“This election is very important and anyone who loves Islam, the Islamic Republic, the progress of the country, the improvement of the situation and [favors] bridging the gaps should show this interest by participating in the election on Friday,” he added.

Salami, in his remarks on Monday, used Pezeshkian’s victory to claim that the elections were free and fair.

The flurry of aggressive remarks towards America appears to be a response to the expression of some hope in the West that Pezeshkian, who in the past appeared to belie some sympathy for anti-regime protesters, would improve diplomatic ties to America. Unlike Salami, who offered indirect support for Pezeshkian, the head of the Iranian Armed Forces Mohammad Baqeri actively committed to backing the president-elect in his congratulatory message.

“I hope that by further strengthening the defense capabilities of the Armed Forces, we will make a big leap in establishing the authority, deterrence power, security and defense of the sacred ideals of the Islamic Republic and our holy land,” Baqeri said.

The IRGC is a U.S.-designated terrorist organization though it is also a formal wing of the Iranian Armed Forces. It operates largely independently from the more legitimate arms of the Iranian military, however, and conducts its own foreign policy – a matter that has resulted in tensions with the Iranian Foreign Ministry in the past.

Pezeshkian himself has endeavored to clarify that his presidency will likely not change its foreign policy much from the Raisi era. While offering Iranians in the country “dialogue” and suggesting Iran should pursue “dialogue and constructive interaction with the world,” the president-elect made clear that this offer did not apply to Israel or its allies.

Pezeshkian ensured Iran’s continued support to Hassan Nasrallah, the head of the Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah, in a letter sent on Monday.

“I am confident that the resistance movements in the region will prevent [Israel] from continuing its warmongering and criminal policies against the oppressed people of Palestine and other nations in the region,” Pezeshkian reportedly said. “Supporting the resistance is rooted in the fundamental policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran … and will continue with strength.”

Iran refers to its international terrorist network as the “axis of resistance” against the existence of Israel.

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