The head of Iran's armed forces, Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri on Sunday said his country would not give up its weapons systems and that Tehran has succeeded in "sowing fear among leaders of the Zionist regime."
In a speech at a memorial for the founder of the ayatollah regime Ruhollah Khomeini, Bagheri said, "Today, the Islamic Revolution radiates outward from our homeland to the surrounding space. The leaders of the imperialist system and the Zionist regime now know what genuine fear is."
He said, "Our strategic depth and determination created a new regional order, and there is no issue in Western Asia in which Iran does not have a hand. We created an Islamic resistance front, and now the criminal and occupying regime is trapped in an ongoing nightmare of security fears and instability – this despite the vast support it enjoys from the West."
Bagheri also related to the tensions with the U.S. and Iran's missile program in his speech.
"Today's political climate is an unprecedented opportunity to develop a defense system and in particular our missile system. We must never give up on this system," he said.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the "balance of power" was preventing a war between the U.S. and Iran, which he warned would also hit U.S. allies Saudi Arabia and Israel.
