Rahim Safavi Warns About 'Influence of Arrogant Enemies on Decision-Making'

Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi, advisor to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic on armed forces matters, has warned about the 'influence of arrogant enemies on political and managerial systems.' Speaking on Thursday, February 11, during a speech in Hamedan commemorating the anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, Safavi stated: 'When the political and managerial systems of a country are influenced by arrogant enemies, all decisions in that country will be made according to the desires and will of the arrogant.' According to the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA), the former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has warned that 'enemies seek to exhaust and demoralize revolutionary and value-driven forces, suggesting that if we want our political and economic situation to improve, we must submit to their goals and accept a capitalist economy.' These remarks by Yahya Rahim Safavi come in the wake of a series of warnings from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, regarding 'enemy and American infiltration' into Iran's managerial systems following the nuclear agreement. Khamenei has stated that the U.S. seeks 'influence' in Iran through the nuclear negotiations, mentioning 'infiltration of a current through networking within the nation via money and sexual attractions.' According to the Supreme Leader, those who are 'targets of infiltration' are primarily 'decision-makers and policy-makers.' Khamenei has also described 'the most dangerous infiltration' as 'cultural and political infiltration,' stating: 'For them [the U.S.], it is better that those at the head of that country think like them, will like them, and make decisions according to their interests; this is political infiltration. [The goal is to] infiltrate decision-making centers; if they cannot infiltrate decision-making centers, because there are places that make decisions.' Following these remarks and a day after the IRGC announced the arrest of 'members of the infiltration network of Western governments,' Iranian President Hassan Rouhani emphasized that 'we must seriously and genuinely fight against any foreign infiltration,' but 'some should not play with the word infiltration.' However, the Supreme Leader warned that 'one should not downplay the essence of infiltration and the importance of this issue by citing potential misuse and factionalism.'