Iran's Army Commander: We Have Offered a 20 Million Toman Reward for Discovering New Enemy Threats

Major General Ataollah Salehi, the Commander of the Islamic Republic Army, announced a "20 million toman reward" for discovering and identifying the "future threats of the enemy" and stated that this reward will be given to anyone who can provide elements regarding the "future threat to the country" within a month. According to Tasnim News Agency, Mr. Salehi said on Tuesday, November 22, during the introduction ceremony of the new commander of the Army Ground Forces that the enemy, after its "failure" to execute "operational threats in the west of the country," is looking for another threat, and that the Army and the IRGC are "offering a reward to identify this threat." The senior military commander mentioned the "20 million toman reward" and said: "If a force from the IRGC or Army provides elements within a month that explain what the future threat to the country is, where it starts, and when it begins, this reward will be given to them." He added that four years ago, in a meeting "when there was no news of the ISIS threat, we stated based on findings that the operational threat was from the west." Mr. Salehi continued that in that meeting, "everyone asked in surprise, 'the west?' [After that] we, along with General Qafari [the IRGC Commander], visited the region, came back, and said this threat is operationalizing." He added that this analysis was even "presented with evidence" to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic and that "this threat has materialized today." In recent years, some Iranian military officials have stated that Iran's red line is the infiltration of ISIS within 40 kilometers of its borders. In May of this year, Major General Pourdastan, the then-commander of the Army Ground Forces who has now been appointed as the deputy commander of the Army, stated that ISIS forces in 2014, after entering Diyala province in Iraq, bordering Kermanshah and Ilam provinces, intended to seize Khanqin, which is 12 kilometers from the Iranian border, and that "the Ground Forces units acted decisively to counter them." This senior military official also announced at that time the formation of a "rapid reaction force" within the Army Ground Forces. Now, the Commander of the Army has praised the activities of Major General Pourdastan in restructuring the Ground Forces, emphasizing that "currently we are facing new threats, and in this situation, we must move from traditional conditions to a new structure of training and operations, which has been prepared during Amir Pourdastan's tenure." He has asked Major General Kiumars Heydari, the new commander of the Army Ground Forces, to "accelerate the transition of these foundations towards operations." In another part of his speech, the Commander of the Army elaborated on the differences between "long-term enemies and seasonal enemies" from his perspective, referring to the United States as the "long-term enemy" of the Islamic Republic. Mr. Salehi explained that "we are currently friends with Iraq, but during the eight years of war, we were enemies; this enemy is a seasonal enemy." He stated that "the United States has a long-term enmity with us; do not think that with smiles and friendship, enmity will go away. A long-term enemy never understands its objectives over time regarding itself." Mr. Salehi added: "A long-term enemy does not disappear through contracts and negotiations and does not cease its enmity; the 'relaxation' period should not be a period of deception, and no one should be fooled." This senior military commander then warned that "any attachment to the United States will lead to the humiliation of the nation." The emphasis on the enmity of the United States with Iran and that it cannot be resolved through contracts and negotiations reflects the positions of Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, who has warned about this periodically since the nuclear agreement was reached. In a recent instance, the leader of Iran emphasized in a speech on November 17 that "America is still America," and that whichever of its two main parties comes to power, "will not bring us any good." He criticized the infatuation with America and the lack of insight among the country's elites, stating that while "ordinary people have this insight, it is surprising that some elites, relying on delusions, do not have this insight." This statement comes at a time when Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the head of the Expediency Discernment Council, recently stated that despite the "historical injustices of America," there is a possibility of "distancing" between these behaviors and the actions of the U.S. government regarding the JCPOA.