PHOTO: General Ahmad Vahidi “Terrorists will experience crushing defeat”


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In its latest statement after defeats by Syria’s rebels, the Iranian regime has promised that it will soon regain the initiative.

Last week, rebels and the jihadists of Jabhat al-Nusra took the key town of Khan Tuman, south of Aleppo city, from Iranian-led forces. The Revolutionary Guards acknowledged that 13 of their troops were killed and 21 wounded. More were captured, and an unknown, large number of Iranian-led foreign militia died.

General Ahmad Vahidi, a former Defense Minister, said on Friday, “Khan Tuman will be taken back in the near future and the terrorists will be experience crushing defeat.”

He insisted that rebels have gained little on the southern Aleppo front and are only giving the impression of victory through their “psychological war”:

Unfortunately these terrorists are supported both at the regional and international level. The resistance, however, is strong.

Fars News, the outlet of the Revolutionary Guards, has finally acknowledged that Khan Tuman was lost. It tried to explain away the failure of counter-attacks to regain the town with the quote, from a “field source”, “The operations to liberate Khan Tuman have not started yet.”

Since last October, since Tehran worked with Russia to launch multiple offensives propping up the Assad regime and Syrian military, Iranian media have officially reported the deaths of almost 300 commanders and troops.

However, last week’s admission by the Revolutionary Guards — their first statement on multiple casualties in the Syria conflict — has fueled public discussion of the intervention.

The regime has tried to rally the public with exaltation of “martyrdom”. On Thursday, the Supreme Leader met families of Afghan militiamen killed in Syria.

But the leadership is also battling rumor and speculation. Mohsen Rezaei, the Secretary of the Expediency Council and a former Revolutionary Guards general, denied on Friday that the Supreme Leader has appointed him to lead the campaign to “free Aleppo”.


Foreign Minister and Senior Officials Defend Nuclear Deal

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and senior officials have defended the July 2015 nuclear deal in presentations to Iranian ambassadors on Saturday.

Zarif assured that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, implemented in January, would soon lead to economic recovery:

In the new situation, all the ambassadors’ efforts should be focused on developing the country’s economy and the people’s livelihood and the people should feel the JCPOA results in practice.

The Rouhani Government has been criticized for weakness towards the US and for failure to ensure a deal whose benefits will be guaranteed. Critics have seized upon continuing American sanctions and new restrictions, imposed over Iran’s ballistic missile tests, for their challenge.

In March, the Supreme Leader warned the Government that the US is undermining the agreement and that he might take charge of policy for a “Resistance Economy”.

Zarif was supported on Saturday by Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization, who led the technical negotiations over the deal. Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, and economic specialists also spoke.

The head of President Rouhani’s office, Mohammad Nahavandian, summarized, ““The JCPOA is not going to bring economic growth. Rather it removed one of the main impediments in the way of economic growth, so that by relying on domestic potential and using foreign capacities economic prosperity can be achieved.”

Another senior Rouhani advisor, Mohammad Reza Nobakht, declared that more than 3 billion dollars in direct foreign investment has been attracted and that “Iran’s oil exports have more than doubled” since January.

Nobakht’s statement on oil was an exaggeration: the International Energy Agency reported this week that exports have risen by 40% to almost 2 million barrels per day.