Exclusive Mohsen Sazegara: "Assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, in the heart of Tehran, was a humiliation for Iran's intelligence organizations.”
Iran is in no position to fight a long-term war with Israel and even asked the US to intervene to prevent a possible
large-scale Israeli retaliation to any Iranian attack, according to Mohsen Sazegara, founder of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), in an exclusive interview with The Jerusalem Post.
The IRGC was founded shortly after the 1979 revolution in Iran to protect the Islamic Republic’s religious control over the country, and to act as a counterbalance to the regular Iranian Army, many of whose officers were still loyal to the Shah of Iran, and therefore could not be trusted by the revolutionary regime.
Since 1979, its authority and influence has spread throughout the world and it is considered one of the leading sponsors of Islamic terror globally. The group is now designated a terrorist organization by the United States. Speaking from the US, where he is now based after leaving Iran more than 20 years ago, Sazegara also touched upon internal conflicts within the Islamic Republic and the problems facing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“What Israel did, I mean the alleged assassination of [Hamas Chief] Ismail Haniyeh, in the heart of Tehran, in one of the most protected places, was a humiliation for the intelligence organizations of Iran,” Sazegara stated.
“This has created a problem for Khamenei among his main powerbase – the intelligence services.” “[Khamenei’s] first reaction was that we retaliate and don’t stop. But when he referred to his military commanders and the experts in the IRGC, and they should present the options of what to do, they told him that Iran is not in a position to fight Israel. They don’t have any strategic balance. They can send missiles toward Israel, especially hypersonic missiles that can reach Israel in six to eight minutes.‘ But when Israel retaliates, then we can’t defend the country, especially air defense,’ Khamenei’s commanders told him.
They told him that “Iran is not in a position to fight Israel,” Sazegara added...
Read more: The Jerusalem Post