Iran will continue its struggle until the destruction of “enemies”, the United States and Israel, the IRGC Chief of its extraterritorial Qods Force said Friday.
As a new flare up of violence between Israel and Iran-backed Islamic Jihad began Friday, Esmail Ghaani (Qaani) was speaking at a memorial service for three servicemen killed in the Syrian war.
Ghaani repeated a recent refrain heard from other Iranian officials that Israel is in decline and said that “Hezbollah’s sons are making plans to bring down the last blow against the Zionist regime…and to realize the wish of Imam Khomeini to eradicate Israel from the map and the face of the Earth.”
But he also threatened the United States: “The enemies of [Iran’s] Islamic government, led by America and the Zionist regime should know that we will never stop self-sacrifice and will move forward on the path of resistance.” IRGC Chief
The Islamic Republic uses the terms “resistance” to refer to its regional foreign and military policy of arming and supporting militant groups, such as the Islamic Jihad, the Lebanese Hezbollah, and the Houthi forces in Yemen primarily for attacking Israel but also threatening Arab states friendly to the West.
“The honorable path of martyrs will be pursued until the complete destruction of the enemies of the Islamic system,” he said, meaning Iran’s Islamic Republic.
Islamic Jihad fires rockets at Israel from Gaza on August 5, 2022.
At the same time on Friday, the official Twitter account of the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) wrote, “We clearly say that we interfere whenever there is the issue of opposing Israel. After this also, wherever any nation or group fights Israel, we stand behind them and support them.”
While Israel launched a series of air attacks throughout Gaza, killing about 10 members of Iran-backed Islamic Jihad including its military commander Taysir al-Jabari, the leader of the group was visiting Tehran.
