Military and Economic Stockpiling

Rooz Online:

In a seminar on Nuclear Technology: Challenges and Opportunities, Haji Najjar, the acting director of the Political Bureau of the Joint Chief of Staff of the Passdaran Revolutionary Guards revealed that measures were underway to stockpile military preparedness and stockpiling for potential dangers. The seminar was organized by the Teachers Baseej (para-military mobilization force) of Gilan province in the city of Rasht. He also declared that there were “300 sensitive nuclear sites” in the country.

In his talk, he said that while the nuclear strategy of the country was a paramount issue during the current and previous administrations because it was defined by the Supreme Leader, the concerns of the enemy had increased since the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the presidency. He attributed the awakening of the Islamic world to the Islamic revolution of Iran in 1979. “This awakening has been so deep that the United States has crossed its own red lines in Iraq so much that Iran now allows it to operate in Iraq,” he said. “Two weeks before Iraq’s parliamentary elections, US ambassador in Iraq make several requests to talk with Iran. His rationale was for Iran to use its influence to dissuade Ayad Alavi and ayatollah Sistani from announcing their positions. This shows the power of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and it shows that all American efforts in Iraq depend on our positive posture.”

Najjar said, “Our enemies used different means such as economic sanctions and limited military attacks to influence and change our diplomacy, which we did not,” he further said. He also claimed that the efforts of Iran neutralized the plans to recognize Israel at the Islamic Conference Organization meeting in Saudi Arabia. The speaker belittled the previous members of Iran’s negotiating team with the Europeans saying one of them is even facing charges of financial corruption. “Some of them did not stand up to the threats of the enemy,” he said of the team, asserting that the new team had resolved these issues.

Najjar then turned to the possibility of refereeing Iran to the UN Security Council over the nuclear issue and said that decision makers began making preparations to neutralize such a possibility. The government put stockpiling on its agenda and mobilized 9 million Baseejes across the country to be prepared for a military attack, “all of which were planned in advance.”

In another part of his talk, he argued, “Our talks with members of the Non-Aligned Movement were very successful too”. “We do not agree with all of them and do not think that the Russians and the Chinese are good friends,” he added. READ MORE

Turning the nuclear issue into a national cause he said was one of the successful strategies of the country. While saying that Iran was not after nuclear weapons, Najjar said, “Many strategy experts outside Iran believe it is our right to have nuclear weapons because of our proximity with countries such as Pakistan that do possess such weapons.”

He then presented his view of US policy in the Middle East, saying it changed after September 11, 2001 and that the US planned to attack Iran after Afghanistan. “The Supreme Leader of the country stood against all those who feared such an outcome, and immediately after that a military commander announced that the Straits of Hormuz would be closed if Iran is attacked,” he maintained. He continued his interpretation of events and said “The Americans held military exercises for this purpose and even created models of the Passdaran Revolutionary Guards Corps boats in the Persian Gulf.” When asked why were the nuclear sites in Iran not scattered around the country, Najjar said expenditures for the defense of the installations determined this. “But our nuclear facilities are not limited to those in a few cities such as Isfahan, Natanz, Arak and Ardakan. We have over 300 sites around the country that have nuclear facilities.”

Since he used the word “we” in his explanations, it was not clear whether that meant the government, the regime, or the Passdaran.