Find, view and share videos about news and entertainment from around the Web.
See Videos »

Blog Chatter

NEWS ALERTS

Get the latest updates sent straight to your inbox.

Sign up to receive AOL News alerts by e-mail.

Iranian General Threatens to 'Punch' U.S.

NASSER KARIMI,
AP
Posted: 2007-08-18 21:27:34
Filed Under: World News
TEHRAN, Iran (Aug. 18) - Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards said they would not bow to pressure and threatened to "punch" the U.S., in their first response to Washington's plan to list them as a terrorist organization, newspapers reported Saturday.

Revolutionary Guards leader Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi, right, is seen with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran last year. Responding to a U.S. plan to label the Guards a terrorist group, Safavi said,
AP

Revolutionary Guards leader Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi, right, is seen with Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran last year. Responding to a U.S. plan to label the Guards a terrorist group, Safavi said "we will never remain silent in the face of U.S. pressure and we will use our leverage against them."

Local press in the Iranian capital of Tehran quoted Revolutionary Guards leader Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi saying that he could understand Washington's ire toward the group because of their "leverage" against the U.S.

"America will receive a heavier punch from the guards in the future," he was quoted as saying in the conservative daily Kayhan. "We will never remain silent in the face of U.S. pressure and we will use our leverage against them."

There was no elaboration on what Safavi meant by the punch or the organization's "leverage."

Washington has accused the Guards of supporting militias and insurgent groups attacking U.S. forces in Iraq - charges Iran denies.

The fact that the remarks, made on Thursday in the central Iranian city of Isfahan, appeared in local newspapers rather than the official state news outlets suggest the comments are for domestic consumption.

Meanwhile, other Iranian officials continued to speak out against Washington's move to register the group as a terrorist organization, with a government spokesman calling the claims "baseless," on the Web site of the state broadcasting company.

"The claims of the U.S. are baseless and have no takers around the world," he said Saturday, noting that "the U.S. has endangered the world many times under the excuse of fighting against terrorism."

On Tuesday, an unnamed official in the Bush administration said the U.S. planned to list the Guards as terrorist group in order to squeeze Iran.

The move was seen as an effort to pressure businesses the corps is thought to control, from construction to oil sectors. It would be the first time the U.S. would put a foreign government's military agency on the list, which includes the al-Qaida network and the militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah.

Iranian armed forces spokesman Gen. Ali Reza Afshar hit out precisely against this attempt to declare a state body terrorist in an editorial Saturday in the country's largest circulation newspaper, calling it illegal.

"America's long time hostility against the Guard is clear and understandable, but this move against organization that is part of Iran's armed forces is illegal," he wrote in the daily Hamshahri.

The estimated 200,000-strong Revolutionary Guards is an elite force separate from Iran's regular military and has its own ground, naval and air units.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
2007-08-18 11:21:06
Bookmark

Recent Comments

1 - 10 of 4885
4885 comments

dw39465 01:29:00 AM Aug 27 2007

People need to wake up and realize that Iran is the secret power behind all the strife in the mideast.They are the fundamentalist Islamics that want to keep the stink stirred up between Islam and Christianity. They know that if peace is struck they are out. They can no longer play their games, rule in obscurity and reap the benefits.I'm not so sure that war is the answer but something must be done about them before the Middle East can get any better. Some have said that the younger Iranians do not believe in the fundamentalist ways and say so behind closed doors. Maybe the only way out of this is to open those doors and fight for what they know is right and that is a free and peaceful world where people help each other not hate,kill,cheat and lie. Yes this process includes the U.S.following suit and quit trying to feed the world on the ways of Democracy if that doesn't work for them but find a middle ground that all can work with. The bad thing is religion will never allow this to be a

steffensewl 08:02:47 AM Aug 25 2007

darklex31, I agree with you. However; I want to add that gw has created most of this mess in mideast. He has ticked off every country there even Isreal. And sc1chuck the nukes you think is so funny is not laughing matter. No doubts that you are a young hot head and don't remember what the nukes did to the people of Japan and surrounding countries. Do you want to be fried alive??

I'm not surprised that half of world hates the United States. gw and gang will tell you it is because of our way of life. I'm not sure of that. I think it's because gw and gang want's to rule and own their countries. How would you feel if they came here to the US invaded our country and tried to change our way of life, telling us they know what is best for us. The mideast has a culture far older then we are. That's their life, and what we think about it doesn't matter to them. gw is a bully and want's to rule the world. The problem is he bit off more than he can chew. Of course thats what he

threedawgknights 11:55:15 PM Aug 24 2007

LEAVE the IRANIANS alone! Were in enough troubles already because we have our nose in other country's business. Its time we mind our own business and Think about America, not invade another country or make up lists, were not any better than they are the way we invaded IRAQ. Just lettem be

sc1chuck 10:51:58 AM Aug 24 2007

Punch them back with a couple tactical nukes

calwilbert 02:03:00 AM Aug 24 2007

Any "Christian" that supports war, ask yourself what would Jesus do? Have you all forgotten that Jesus was from the middle east? He probably looked more like a "*******" than the blue eyed European he is portrayed as.

calwilbert 02:00:00 AM Aug 24 2007

Majority of the Iranian population is under 30, they are an educated people, and most do not support this regime. The average Iranian youth is not religous, and most mock the mullahs behind closed doors. This regime rules by terror, and people are afraid to revolt. We should aid resistance inside Iran, not start another war that would be as bad as Iraq is times ten.

pushupsbootcamp 01:46:00 PM Aug 23 2007

PEACE BE WITH YOU by RAIMONDO SALOMONE has been reviewed as,
?One of the most provocative novels in years. An important book.?
It?s the riveting story of three generations of Italian-Americans and the tenuous relationship they have with their Catholic priest. Search for it at Amazon or BarnesandNoble.com Read an excerpt at the author?s website,

www.RaimondoSalomone.com

HOW FAR WILL A PRIEST GO TO KEEP A SECRET?

BFTQPON 11:34:00 AM Aug 22 2007

PEOPLE, THIS COUNTRY IS A THREAT TO US, WAKE UP!

silent1pa 07:43:00 AM Aug 21 2007

This way we can be just like them. Will that make you feel better about your country?

silent1pa 07:42:00 AM Aug 21 2007

dark that is isreals plan and it hasn't done much for them. left to their own these groups have grown to the point where extremism is in every middle eastern country. closing our borders and waiting for the next attack is saying you give up on the american way of life. While we're implimenting that plan why don't we just all start wearing masks and running around our neighborhoods with ak 47s and then we can start having our congress send suicide bombers over to iran to blow up hotels and office buildings. don't forget to put a bag over your wifes head. and we will stop prosecuting the guys who rape your daughter because it'll be her fault since they saw her ankle. also lets throw out freedom of anything like speech. after we lock ourselves up you can forget about news since it'd be only what the actual gov permits.

1 - 10 of 4885
4885 comments

Add your own Comments

* Want the latest Hot Seat polls delivered to your Vista desktop? Hot Seat Vista Gadget »

Top Videos

News Bloggers