Mohsen Rezaei threatened to strike American military bases in Europe if the United States uses them to launch attacks on Iran.
The newly appointed secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council issued the warning during an interview with the Lebanese television channel Al-Mayadeen, L’Express.fr reported.
“If American airplanes take off from an American military base, even located in a European country or in another distant region, to bomb Iran, we will strike these bases,” Rezaei told Al-Mayadeen.
The remarks arrive amid an ongoing diplomatic and military crisis that began when the current war started on Feb. 28. Despite the fiery rhetoric, the Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. Vice President JD Vance is considering face-to-face discussions with the senior Iranian official to explore potential negotiations.
At 72 years old, Rezaei has spent nearly half a century at the center of the Islamic Republic’s political and military establishment. Born into a modest family in Khuzestan province, he opposed the regime of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi during his youth and joined the clandestine group Mansouroun in 1970.
The SAVAK, the Shah’s secret police, arrested him in Ahvaz during the early 1970s. His imprisonment expanded his political network within the revolutionary movement that ultimately seized power in 1979.
Following the revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini appointed Rezaei as commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps at age 27. He held that military leadership role for 16 years before stepping down in September 1997.
Beyond domestic security, Rezaei’s name has long been linked to international terrorism investigations. Argentine prosecutors requested an arrest warrant for him in 2006 regarding the 1994 car bombing at the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, which killed 85 people.
Interpol issued a red notice for his arrest the following year. Tehran has consistently denied any involvement in the attack.
After leaving the IRGC, Rezaei served for nearly 24 years as secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council. He also ran unsuccessfully for president in 2009, 2013, and 2021, finishing second in the 2021 election behind Ebrahim Raisi before serving under him as vice president for economic affairs from 2021 to 2023.
Rezaei's appointment to lead the Supreme National Security Council shows that Tehran's hardline faction retains control over foreign policy strategy. Whether direct talks between Washington and Tehran will proceed remains unconfirmed.
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