Iran’s Revolutionary Guards say U.S. “bluffing”

Iran Focus: a pro-MEK website

A senior Revolutionary Guards commander dismissed on Tuesday threats by the United States over Iran’s nuclear program as “political bluff”, the government-owned news agency Fars reported. READ MORE

Brigadier General Ali-Reza Afshar, a veteran Revolutionary Guards commander and director of propaganda and cultural affairs in the high command of the Armed Forces, made the remarks on the final day of a conference in Tehran entitled “the West’s Psychological War Against Iran”.

“The bulk of America’s threatening propaganda [against the Islamic Republic of Iran] is just political bluff”, Afshar said.

He said that Iran was countering the “psychological war” being waged by the U.S. by highlighting America’s “domestic problems”, citing issues such as poverty, torture in prisons, unemployment, inequality, and instrumentalisation of women.

Afshar said that his government was exposing “America’s plots” in the Middle East. “When Muslims become aware of such plots, they forge a remarkable unity against America”.

Afshar cited the seizure of British gunboats by the Revolutionary Guards in June 2004 as an example of successful psychological war by Iran.

“If [the Revolutionary Guards] had not acted quickly in putting out news of the seizure of the boats, we would not have been able to create that psychological war against the British”, he said.

Scenes of blindfolded and handcuffed British marines being paraded by Revolutionary Guards shocked television viewers in London in the summer of 2004. Despite repeated requests by Britain, Iran has refused to return the boats and equipment.

Afshar listed four stages of psychological war as peace, threats, crisis and war. He said that with the coming to power of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, “enemy plans to sow discord within the government of the Islamic Republic” have been thwarted.

“Now the enemy is trying to use other tools against us, including ethnic and religious conflicts and partisan strife, but we must recognise these and be ready to confront them”, the Revolutionary Guards general said.