“The Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran, with full readiness, vigilance, and intelligence dominance, will decisively respond to any threat against the security, independence, and territorial integrity of the country with effects-based, painful, and regret-inducing operations,” Commander of Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters Major General Ali Abdollahi said in a statement on Thursday on the occasion of the first anniversary of the US-Israel aggression against the Islamic Republic, as he commemorated the war martyrs.
He added that the 12-day battle against the United States and the Israeli regime last June proved that the Iranian nation is ready to defend the country's sovereignty, independence, security, and national interests in the face of any threat or aggression through unity, steadfastness, and following guidelines of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution and the Commander-in-Chief, and by reliance on capabilities of the Armed Forces.
“The enemies, with their miscalculations and delusional assumptions, have failed to achieve their sinister and evil goals, and faced a strategic and humiliating defeat,” the top commander emphasized.
He hailed the "sacred and historic defense" and noted that the ongoing widespread and conscious presence of the people in support of the ideals of the Islamic Revolution and the Armed Forces, along with their pledge of allegiance to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Mojtaba Khamenei and the call for avenging the blood of the martyred Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, represents a “lasting manifestation of national unity and cohesion and support for the path of resistance”.
General Abdollahi emphasized that more than 100 nights of people’s presence in the streets has revealed the people's important role in strengthening the country's deterrent power.
The commander expressed confidence that the path of the martyrs of Iran’s dignity and strength, especially the martyred Leader, will continue, and the “flag of independence, resistance, and pride of this land will remain high."
The United States and Israel launched their unprovoked war of aggression against Iran on February 28.
Iran’s Armed Forces responded with 100 waves of retaliatory strikes under Operation True Promise 4, launching hundreds of ballistic and hypersonic missiles, as well as drones, against American military bases across West Asia and Israeli positions throughout the occupied territories.
On April 8, forty days into the war, an Islamabad-brokered ceasefire went into effect. However, the first round of Tehran-Washington negotiations failed to reach an agreement, with the latter imposing an inhumane “naval blockade” of Iran.
Since then, both Israel and the US have violated the truce, triggering Iran’s strong retaliatory strikes.