Khamenei tells Iran's Guards to develop advanced, modern weapons

[webfact]

Khamenei tells Iran's Guards to develop advanced, modern weapons

By Parisa Hafezi

 

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei attends a graduation ceremony for student officers and guard trainees in Tehran, Iran September 13, 2019. Official Khamenei website/Handout via REUTERS

 

DUBAI (Reuters) - Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards on Sunday to develop more advanced and modern weapons, amid increasingly tense disputes with the United States and Gulf Arab states.

 

Tensions in the Gulf have risen to new highs since May 2018, when the Trump administration withdrew from a 2015 international nuclear accord with Tehran that put limits on its nuclear programme in exchange for the easing of sanctions.

 

As U.S. sanctions have been reimposed, there have been a series of attacks in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf that Washington and its allies have blamed on Iran, which denies responsibility.

 

"The Guards should have advanced and modern weapons ... Your weapons should be modern and updated. It should be developed at home. You need to develop and produce your weapons," Khamenei said in a speech at Imam Hossein Military University in Tehran.

 

"Today the Guards have a powerful presence inside and outside Iran ... America's hostile approach has increased the Guards' greatness," Khamenei said, according to state TV.

 

Washington and Riyadh have accused Iran of being behind attacks on Saudi oil facilities on Sept. 14, which temporarily knocked out half Saudi oil output. Tehran denies any role in the strikes which were claimed by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi forces.

 

Amid the tensions, Washington plans to deploy about 3,000 troops to Saudi Arabia, including fighter squadrons, an air expeditionary wing and air defence personnel.

 

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan arrived in Tehran on Sunday, saying he would continue efforts to defuse the row between Tehran and Riyadh, which have been locked in proxy conflicts in the Middle East.

 

Khan, who also met Khamenei, is visiting Tehran after he said U.S. President Donald Trump had asked him to help reduce tensions with Iran.

 

"Pakistan does not want conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia," Khan told a joint news conference with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, broadcast on state television.

 

"I am happy to facilitate talks between Tehran and Riyadh," said Khan, saying he had "constructive talks" with Rouhani and planned to visit Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.

 

Khamenei told Khan that U.S.-allied Gulf Arab States were "under the will of the United States" and warned that any attacker would regret taking action against Iran, according to state television. "Ending the war in Yemen will have a positive impact on the region."

 

Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir said on Sunday that Riyadh had not asked Islamabad to mediate.

 

The minister told reporters in Riyadh the Pakistani prime minister was acting "on his own initiative" and said Iranians needed "to change their behaviour, their policies if they want countries to deal with them as with normal countries."

 

Iran's foreign ministry said before Khan's visit that Tehran was ready for talks with Riyadh with or without a mediator.

 

Rouhani told the news conference after meeting Khan that "any effort based on goodwill is welcomed ... during the meeting, we agreed that the regional issues can be resolved through diplomacy and through dialogue between countries."

 

(Writing by Parisa Hafezi, additional reporting by Olesya Astakhova in Riyadh; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky and Edmund Blair)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-10-14

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[Matzzon]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards on Sunday to develop more advanced and modern weapons, amid increasingly tense disputes with the United States

Yes, great idea! If he put all citizen into production, he will have a chance to beat them in about 25 years. Good thinking, Ali!

[Baerboxer]

What a <deleted> Khan is! Why would the Saudis or Iranians want or trust him to facilitate anything?

 

Should concentrate on bringing his own country culturally out of the middle ages mentality.

[puipuitom]

EU + Obama treaty: till 2025 no nuclear bombs, but continuation to make ICBM's to hit any place on earth, and after 2025: nobody can stop Iran to develop as many atom bombs as they want.

Only ONE who try to stop them: Trump.

[Tayaout]

4 minutes ago, puipuitom said:

EU + Obama treaty: till 2025 no nuclear bombs, but continuation to make ICBM's to hit any place on earth, and after 2025: nobody can stop Iran to develop as many atom bombs as they want.

Only ONE who try to stop them: Trump.

Seems like everything is working as scheduled then. 

[rabas]

He may be eluding to nukes. Iran already have sophisticated industry for guided missiles, cruise missiles, and drones. 

 

Iran recently completed a factory capable of making 60 advanced uranium centrifuges per day, equivalent to 360 of their current model centrifuges. This reduces their "time to bomb" to just months and increases uranium production sufficiently to build many bombs per year.

 

And this was allowed under the recently abandoned nuclear treaty. No wonder Iran liked the deal so much.

[billd766]

quote "Amid the tensions, Washington plans to deploy about 3,000 troops to Saudi Arabia, including fighter squadrons, an air expeditionary wing and air defence personnel."

 

Why would the US send their military to Saudi Arabia to fight and die (if necessary) just to protect SA? SA seem fairly good at killing people in Yemen using US equipment so why do they need help to defend themselves?

 

quote"Khamenei told Khan that U.S.-allied Gulf Arab States were "under the will of the United States" and warned that any attacker would regret taking action against Iran, according to state television. "Ending the war in Yemen will have a positive impact on the region."

 

Khamenei is certainly correct when he said "Ending the war in Yemen will have a positive impact on the region."

[Sunderland]

Why is the world full of so many nutcase leaders? 

 

Trump, Johnson, Duterte, Prayuth and Khamenei off the top of my head.

[RickBradford]

1 minute ago, Sunderland said:

Why is the world full of so many nutcase leaders? 

 

Trump, Johnson, Duterte, Prayuth and Khamenei off the top of my head.

I suppose the names of Kim Jong-Un, or Nicolas Maduro didn't occur to the top of your head?

[from the home of CC]

doesn't have to be that sophisticated, a dirty warhead on a cruise missile can do a lot of long term damage..

[Dumbastheycome]

Problematic in the  entire spectrum of war  is that it has long been less a focus on cessation than on continuation due to the political stance in support of the economic advantage of.

"Defense " budgets are disproportionate expenditures justified  by the incitement of cause on all sides of conflict.

While the population is led by the nose of political rhetoric the industry that supports it profitably scrambles to accommodate the desire  for superior capacity  of destruction.

That never  ceases whether it be  "cold war", "undeclared war", "secret war", "open war", " pre-emptive war", "interventionist war" or the  classic " war of containment" or any other politico concoction  that keeps the  military machinery  funded, supplied and perpetuated.

There is  no weapon of  peace . If world peace  should  ever come to  contaminate  imagine the problem of  coping  with the unemployed who to date are tax paid potential cannon fodder at the whim and  will of cleverly  lobbied  political spokespersons.AS  self  declared  superior "apes"  I have come to understand  why those we  consider lesser apes have such a sad and  resigned  facial expression.