DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran’s army chief threatened preemptive military action Wednesday over the “rhetoric” targeting the Islamic Republic, likely referring to U.S. President Trump’s warning that if Tehran “violently kills peaceful protesters,” America “will come to their rescue.”
The comments by Maj. Gen. Amir Hatami come as Iran tries to respond to what it sees as a dual threat posed by Israel and the United States, as well as the protests sparked by its economic woes that have grown into a direct challenge to its theocracy.
Seeking to halt the anger, Iran’s government began Wednesday paying the equivalent of $7 a month to subsidize rising costs for dinner-table essentials like rice, meat and pastas. Shopkeepers warn prices for items as basic as cooking oil likely will triple under pressure from the collapse of Iran’s rial currency and the end of a preferential subsidized dollar-rial exchange rate for importers and manufacturers — likely fueling further popular anger.
“More than a week of protests in Iran reflects not only worsening economic conditions, but longstanding anger at government repression and regime policies that have led to Iran’s global isolation,” the New York-based Soufan Center think tank said.
The Iranian general spoke to military academy students. He took over as commander-in-chief of the Iran’s army, known by the Farsi word “Artesh,” after Israel killed a slew of the country’s top military commanders in June’s 12-day war. He is the first regular military officer in decades to hold a position long controlled by Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
“The Islamic Republic considers the intensification of such rhetoric against the Iranian nation as a threat and will not leave its continuation without a response,” he said, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.
He added, “I can say with confidence that today the readiness of Iran’s armed forces is far greater than before the war. If the enemy commits an error, it will face a more decisive response, and we will cut off the hand of any aggressor.”
Iranian officials including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei have been responding to Mr. Trump’s comments, which took on more significance after the U.S. military raid that seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a longtime ally of Tehran, over the weekend. But there’s been no immediate public sign of Iran preparing for an attack in the region.
Protests have escalated i Iran in recent days, according to Middle East news organizations, with large demonstrations reported in Tehran and across the country. One demonstrator reportedly hung a sign in central Tehran reading “President Trump Street.”
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