Top Iran official says U.S. at impasse in Iraq

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Jan. 13 – A top Iranian official who was once the deputy commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) claimed on Friday that the United States had reached an impasse in Iraq and that its new strategy for security there would fail as well. Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Jan. 13 – A top Iranian official who was once the deputy commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) claimed on Friday that the United States had reached an impasse in Iraq and that its new strategy for security there would fail as well.

“All of the U.S.’s plans and plots have reached an impasse and they will continue to reach dead-ends”, Brigadier General Mohammad-Baqer Zolqadr said in comments that were carried by the official news agency IRNA.

Zolqadr is currently Iran’s Deputy Interior Minister with overall responsibility for internal security.

Referring to the adoption of a resolution by the UN Security Council which imposed sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear non-compliance, Zolqadr said, “The U.S. has miscalculated”.

“When the [U.S.”> realised that it could not bring Iran to its knees by launching a military invasion, it attempted to rely on other means including putting [political”> pressure from the outside and disintegrating our establishment from within; however, it has failed in these tasks as well”, he said.

He accused Washington of trying to establish a presence in the Middle East and Central Asia in order to “disrupt the security of the region”.

“Their new excuse is Iran’s efforts to obtain nuclear fuel. Through psychological warfare, imposition of constraints, and economic pressure, they intend to force the Islamic Republic of Iran to retreat”, he said, adding, “If Iran was going to submit to pressures by the enemy this would have happened during the Iran-Iraq war when all the countries of the world had rallied against us”.

Zolqadr is a protégé and trusted confidant of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and has had a key role in the country’s security apparatus for years. He is also a staunch ally of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.