Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani says the real aim of the United States and Israel in waging the ongoing war with Iran was the disintegration of the country, not merely a change in its government.
“Their main objective from the beginning of the war was the disintegration of Iran. They were not seeking a minor change,” Larijani said in an interview with Iran’s state TV, adding that Iran is a large country, and Israel is hardly comparable to it.
“Therefore, their primary aim was the fragmentation of Iran; the issue was Iran itself,” he stressed.
He explained that Israel and the US sought to achieve that objective through assassinating Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamaneni and members of the armed forces.
“The enemy’s strategy was to create a massive shock and sense of stunned confusion among the Iranian people so that, through it, they could trigger the overthrow of the government and the breakup of Iran,” Larijani noted, adding that the latest post shared by US President Donald Trump on social media shows that their aim was to break up Iran.
According to the top national security official, the US thought they could repeat in Iran what they had done in Venezuela as they intended to exploit a state of shock to transform the situation and throw Iran into turmoil. But, Larijani added, they do not understand the mindset of the Iranian people.
“We have the epic of Imam Hossein (the third Shia imam), which although contains a great tragedy and shock, within it lies heroism. The resilience of the Iranian nation is built around that very epic,” he added.
American officials are in a state of desperation
Larijani said that the US had planned that by assassinating Ayatollah Khamenei, they could disrupt Iran’s governmental structure and end the war quickly with intense attacks. They believed Iran would collapse, but instead they became stuck in the conflict, he added.
According to the official, the enemy’s first goal was to destroy the morale of the Iranian people with a heavy initial strike, and then disrupt daily life by causing shortages of necessities like fuel and food. However, he said, despite increased travel and fuel consumption, the Iranian government managed to supply people’s needs.
He also rejected claims that Iranian military commanders had contacted the US to defect, saying Iran’s armed forces are actively fighting and launching missiles that have pressured the enemy.
He noted that the enemy also tried to incite ethnic groups, especially Kurds, against the government to promote separatism. But, he added, Kurds are a historic Iranian people who remember how the US treated Kurdish groups in Syria—promising support but later abandoning them—so they do not trust the US and did not support such efforts.
Your Comment