Mohsen Rezaei: Operation Karbala 4 Was Not a Deception, Nor Was It a Major Operation

The former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Mohsen Rezaei, stated after widespread reactions to his tweet regarding Operation 'Karbala 4' that his tweet was 'misinterpreted' and that this operation was the main operation, not a 'deception operation.' According to IRNA news agency, Rezaei emphasized in a television program that 'Operation Karbala 4 was not a deception; rather, we turned this operation into a deception for the enemy.' His comments come after his tweet on the matter sparked controversy. In his tweet, Rezaei had written: 'Operation Karbala 4 was conducted to deceive the enemy... With Operation Karbala 4, we made the enemy believe that our annual operation was only this one. Ten days later, at the same location and when the Ba'ath army forces were on leave, we conducted Operation Karbala 5.' In response to this tweet, including Hesam al-Din Ashna, an advisor to the Iranian president, called for accountability regarding the 'sealed secrets' of the Iran-Iraq war. He wrote to Rezaei: 'You have always appeared as a national hero. But now, with these words about that bitter operation, you can no longer hide behind the names of the martyrs and must prepare for tough questions.' Ashna emphasized that 'there is a world of difference between a deception operation and a leaked operation. Post-analysis does not solve any problems. We may forgive the wrongdoers, but we will never forgive the narcissists.' Asieh Bakri, daughter of Hamid Bakri, one of the commanders of the Iran-Iraq war, also wrote to Rezaei: 'For the sake of your own end and the peace of mind of the survivors of the imposed war, please do not write anymore; you are not a remedy, you do not know how to apologize; at least practice silence.' Previously, commanders of the Revolutionary Guard had always spoken of the leakage of Operation 'Karbala 4.' However, in his recent explanations, Rezaei stated that 'in no operation did we have 100% surprise, and part of the operation was leaked.' He added: 'The issue of leakage is actually one of the honors of the war in that we could not have a state of complete surprise. We ended the war in a state of leakage.' Regarding his tweet, Rezaei said: 'I tweeted that you... should look at it from another angle that we actually turned this operation into a deception and conducted the operation in that area 10 to 15 days later.' He also mentioned: 'Operation Karbala 4 has been the main operation so far, but it was not our major operation.' Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guard, also spoke about Operation Karbala 5, saying: 'At that time, we were also against the operation and were debating, but the late Mr. Hashemi insisted that the operation be carried out. In Operation Karbala 5, it was thought that the enemy was also alert there, and the commanders were not in favor, but the command of the war was in favor of the operation.' He continued by saying that 'one should not vent their grievances against Mohsen Rezaei.' Rezaei's statements come at a time when analysts have previously spoken of Iran's 'relative' victory in Operation 'Karbala 5,' which was not a significant victory for Iran. This operation took place a few days after Operation 'Karbala 4.' Furthermore, while Rezaei stated that Operation Karbala 4 was not a major operation, reports indicate that Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the supreme commander of the war, and Iranian commanders referred to such operations as decisive operations in their discussions. The former commander of the Revolutionary Guard also stated that the number of Iranian forces killed in this operation was between 985 and 991. Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani wrote in his memoirs that in this operation 'we had nearly a thousand martyrs and 3,900 missing, most of whom should be counted as martyrs, and about 11,000 wounded, about half of whom were treated on an outpatient basis or will be.' Iranian officials have never announced complete and detailed statistics of the casualties from the two operations of Karbala 4 and 5. However, Hossein Alaei, former commander of the Navy of the Revolutionary Guard, spoke of five thousand killed and 11 thousand wounded in 'Karbala 4' and 12 thousand killed and missing and 15 thousand wounded in Operation 'Karbala 5.' While 30 years have passed since the end of the Iran-Iraq war, discussing certain aspects of this war remains a taboo. Officials of the Islamic Republic also present different narratives regarding the details of this war and the reasons for accepting UN Resolution 598.