generals will be killed by Iran in revenge for the recent attacks on two of Iran’s nuclear scientists.
The specific and blood-curdling threat was perhaps unique, as Iranian officials generally are very careful to make only generic, vague and conditional threats. It is common, for example, for officials of the Islamic Republic to say that the Americans will pay for their conduct. And officials have announced that they are digging hundreds of thousand of graves in which to bury all the American troops they will kill—but only if the United States invades Iran. But they are normally careful to avoid the kinds of threats that could justify an American counter-action.
In a speech posted on an Iranian website linked to the Pasdaran, Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Naghdi, commander of the Basij Forces, was quoted as saying that “the filthy Americans and the Zionists should not think that by killing our scientists they can divert our nation from its path of Jihad and scare us.”
He continued with a specific threat: “We will mark the hanging sites of the American and Zionist generals and we will identify which hanging was in retaliation for the blood of our great martyr Shahriari.”
Naghdi was referring to Majid Shahriari, a nuclear scientist killed in a bombing earlier this month. As he was being driven to work, motorcyclists attached a magnetic explosive device to his car.
Reza Kahlili, a former CIA spy who left Iran, first discovered the comments and showed them to Fox News. He said, “The United States should be concerned about this threat.”
Jim Phillips, a specialist on Middle East Policy for the Heritage Foundation, and Alireza Nader, who follows the Iranian leadership at the RAND Corporation think tank, told Fox News Iran often makes outlandish threats, but they agreed that this one has to be taken as a serious and credible threat because it came directly from Naghdi.
“It is significant that this commander made specific threats,” Nader said. “Usually these threats are taken with a grain of salt, but there is a history of the Iranian regime retaliating against US forces in a covert manner, especially in Iraq.”
A Department of Defense (DOD) spokesman said the military was not aware of the threat. “I have not heard those threats; DOD is not going to respond to such comments,” said Maj. Chris Perrine, a public affairs officer. “Regarding security, we take appropriate security measures according to circumstances and are confident that our security posture in the region is appropriate.”
Both Phillips and Nader said the most likely place for an attack would be Iraq, and any attack would most likely be carried out by local surrogates working for the Pasdaran. But Nader also suggested that Bahrain, Qatar and other Persian Gulf states could be sites for attacks.