Khamenei Aide’s Remark Shows Iran Will Continue Use of Extremism to Harm U.S. Interests in Middle East

On February 3, two senior Iranian leaders bragged that the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.) and its foreign sectarian militia forces have inflicted a heavy defeat on the U.S. and its allied forces in conflict zones in the Middle East and South Asia.

Amid simmering tension between Washington and Tehran over the latter’s controversial missile activity, Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi, a senior military advisor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, claimed credit for U.S. “failure” in Iraq and Afghanistan. The former I.R.G.C. commander also boasted that the Iranian military “caused the defeat of America, its Western and Arab allies, and Turkey in Syria.”

Separately, Mohsen Rezaei, the head of Iran’s Expediency Discernment Council, also commended the Iranian military for expanding Iran’s influence in Middle East and expelling American forces from the region. “The sacrifices of the defenders of the shrines are valuable and admirable. Americans are scared to be [militarily] active on the ground. But the Shiite militants stopped the advance of Daesh [Islamic State] and foiled Americans’ designs,” the former chief of the I.R.G.C. added. Iranian leaders use the term “defenders of the shrines” for Iranian, Lebanese, Iraqi, Afghan and Pakistani Shiite militiamen who fight under the I.R.G.C.’s banner in Syria and Iraq.

When the United States and five other world powers signed the nuclear agreement with Iran in July 2015, they hoped that the accord would also moderate the Islamic Republic’s destabilizing role and subversive activities in the Middle East. But if Iranian leaders’ rhetoric and actions are any indication, the Islamic Republic will continue to militarily and politically interfere in neighboring countries at the expense of U.S. national security interests and regional stability.