IRGC threatens invasion of neighbours that attack Iran

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has threatened “to invade” any country in the Middle East that attacks Iran as tensions in the region rise. 

The IRGC spokesperson, Hossein Mohebi, on Wednesday, said Iran’s security doctrine has become “offensive and asymmetrical.”

Al Jazeera reported that Mr Mohebi said Iran’s defence doctrine was previously defensive but shifted to ‘offensive and asymmetrical’ because of its realities. 

“We announced that if a country attacked us, we would respond to it,” he said.

“Now, we say if a country attacks us, we will respond to it, and we will invade. Our doctrine will no longer be only offensive and will become asymmetrical. We will attack the enemy in such a way that it will understand the intensity of our action.”

The US-Iran war, now over seven months, continued to heighten tension in the Middle East, with persistent strike exchanges, negotiations, and diplomatic pressure failing to bring an end to the war. 

The US and Iran remain divided over the control of the Strait of Hormuz, sanction relief and Iranian uranium enrichment. 

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the country is prepared to give diplomacy another chance. But this is dependent on “strong evidence of a sincere desire by the US to build trust and reach a just solution.”

“If the US chooses war over diplomacy, it’ll certainly result in an even greater strategic failure.”

The IRGC has also threatened to attack US bases in the region if tankers continue to pass through the waterway illegally. 

The armed forces said it will extend “confrontation to US bases” in the region if Washington continues to urge “vessels to pass through mined waterways illegally.”

It also declared that its navy struck four ships involved in oil transfers in the Gulf, and that three other vessels caught fire after hitting mines near the Strait of Hormuz.

“The US aggressor military must understand that, if this continues, the scope of confrontation will extend to the bases of the aggressors in the region. This is a serious warning,” it said.

Mr Mohebi also taunted the United States over the Strait of Hormuz, saying the repercussions would influence the upcoming midterm elections for President Trump’s Republican Party.

“The Strait of Hormuz has squeezed the economic and political throat of the United States,” he said

Meanwhile, Iran called the US naval blockade of Iran “a flagrant violation” of international law and the UN Charter, in a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Security Council President Aglaia Balta. 

ALSO READ: Iran urges Saudi Arabia to pursue diplomacy with Houthis

The letter, written by Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gholam Hossein, asked the global organisation to urge the US to immediately cease its military aggression against Iran and lift the maritime blockade. 

He asked that the UN recognise that Washington remains internationally responsible for its “internationally wrongful acts, including its military aggression” and any “continuing violations of international law, and that the obligations to cease wrongful conduct and to make full reparation remain applicable in accordance with the law of State responsibility.”