Iran May Keep US Conflict Going Until Donald Trump's Term Ends, IRGC Adviser Says

Tehran: Despite several reports about US President Donald Trump thinking about halting any form of aggression against Iran in case the Persian Gulf country opts for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, an Iranian high-ranking military official has stated that Iran can “prolong” its war with America until the 80-year-old Republican leader leaves office.

What did the official say?

Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi, a senior adviser to the commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), made the comments. 

The two aims of the US were to topple the leadership and to break up Iran, but to no avail, Naqdi said in an interview on Tuesday, and said the victory was Iran's. He said Iran will gain more experience the "longer this war lasts," and the world has witnessed the US military "is weaker than what we perceived.

“Look, we have to be able to achieve deterrence; otherwise the enemy will never refrain from attacking us, otherwise we will not be able to live in security,” Naqdi said. One option is to drag this conflict on until the next presidential term and wear the Iranians down, so that if someone else decides to go to war against Iran, they will know they will have plenty of expenses," he said.

"We saw confusion and bewilderment in America, it turned into a war without strategy; every two or three days they declared new goals, they mobilised their battleships, everything they did, we can show how we defeated them,” he added. 

What about attacks on civilian ships?

Naqdi responded to attacks on civilian vessels passing through the Hormuz, referencing the international law and the fact that the passage is under Iran's control "when you are in a state of war, any thoroughfare that you consider to be a threat.

He added that Iran has numerous missile and drone arsenals, and is producing more each day than it could use. When asked if the US decides to use a nuclear weapon against Iran, Naqdi said the world is unlikely to allow that to happen, adding that things are different than World War II.

He also said Iran has no enmity with the people of the US and slogan "Death to America" means death to America's leadership.

"I will say it clearly that the hearts of people of the world are our nuclear bomb which we are conquering in the cause of Allah, and Islamic value and Divine value of the Islamic Revolution are prevailing in the world, there is no need for slaughter, there is no need for the nuclear bomb," he said.