Eurasia Press & News
TEHRAN (FNA) – Iran’s top military commander said Saturday that his forces would retaliate against American military bases in the Persian Gulf if they are involved in any possible future attack on Iran.
Commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari told Al-Jazeera television that it is Iran’s “natural right to respond” if attacked by land or air.
But he assured Persian Gulf Arab countries – some of whom are home to US military bases – that only American forces would come under counterattack.
“We realize that there is worry among neighboring countries – Muslim countries whose lands host US military stations,” Jafari said. He spoke in Farsi, which the network dubbed over in Arabic.
“However, if the US launches a war against us, and if it uses these stations to attack Iran with missiles, then through the strength and precision of our own missiles, we are capable of targeting only the US military forces who attack us,” he told the station.
On a recent visit to the Persian Gulf countries, President Bush said “all options” against Tehran remain on the table.
Many of the Persian Gulf’s Arab states are nervous about the impact of any military confrontation.
The US military has several bases in Arab countries including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Yemen. Many Persian Gulf Arabs have expressed concern that those bases make them vulnerable to attack.
