Iranian Military Chief Slams John Kerry, Threatens ‘Direct Battle with the U.S.’

The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard is blasting John Kerry and threatening military action on American soil after the secretary of state last week said “the military option” is still on the table regarding Iran’s nuclear program. This as Iran’s parliament moved to increase its military budget in response to Kerry's “saber-rattling.”

Iran's Revolutionary Guard (Photo: AP)

Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari hinted of possible military engagement with the U.S., saying, “Mr. Kerry must know that direct battle with the US is the biggest dream of pious and revolutionary people across the world. Your threats offer our revolutionary people the best opportunity.”

“You could never understand the extent of the invasive capacity of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Jafari said on Saturday according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), the official news agency of Iran.

IRNA further wrote, “Jafari recommended Kerry to stop repeating ‘bankrupt strategies like the use of military option’ in order to avoid the accelerated collapse of the US civilization.”

Kerry last week told the Middle East news network Al Arabiya that if Iran does not abide by the agreement with western nations, “then the military option that is available to the United States is ready and prepared to do what it would have to do.”

Iran’s Jafari further said that “wise politicians” should not leave the “ridiculous military option” on the table.

Besides the military commander, Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani also lambasted Kerry’s remarks and responded by saying Iran would increase its military budget.

“Today, you heard Kerry’s remarks and saw his saber-rattling against the Islamic Republic of Iran and we should fully understand this sensitivity and take practical measures against it,” Larijani said on Saturday evening.

Iran’s Fars News Agency reported that Iran would increase its military budget in response to what it viewed as a threat from Kerry.

Another senior Revolutionary Guards official, Yadollah Javani, told Fars, “The Islamic Republic can attack all the US interests in the region and they will never be able to show a proportionate reaction.”

"Certainly, the Americans will never succeed in stopping Iran’s nuclear facilities," he added.

But Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, called Kerry’s words “more like a bluff,” Iran’s Tasnim News Agency reported.

“Obviously, the Americans have no such power (to launch an attack on Iran). If they did, they would not have been expelled from Iraq and Afghanistan in such a totally weakened state," Velayati added.

Last week, Iran said it was moving a group of warships to the Atlantic Ocean, though no ports of call were announced.