Iran won’t be defeated in any war on the ground: IRGC chief

Major General Hossein Salami made the remarks at a meeting of commanders and officials of the IRGC's Ground Force in the holy city of Mashhad on Tuesday.
 
He described the IRGC’s Ground Force as “a strategic force” for the Islamic Republic, which has made progress in all spheres
 
The IRGC’s Ground Force stands today among the world’s top ground forces when it comes to creativity, he added.
 
“With God’s blessing, thanks to the presence of the IRGC’s Ground Force and other Armed Forces, who are defending the (1979 Islamic) Revolution and the country, we will not be defeated in any war on the ground,” Salami said.
 
He also stressed that the enemy has been waging an all-out war on Iran using different strategies, including military, economic, social, political and cultural tools and sometimes a combination of them.
 
Over the past years, Iran has made major breakthroughs in its defense sector and attained self-sufficiency in producing military equipment and hardware despite sanctions and economic pressures on the country.
 
The Islamic Republic maintains that its military power is solely for defensive purposes and does not pose any threat to other nations.
 
‘Deep offensive doctrine on agenda’
 
Addressing Tuesday’s event, Commander of the IRGC’s Ground Force Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour, said that “the deep offensive doctrine” on the battlefield against the enemy is on the agenda.
 
The IRGC Ground Force, he noted, had practiced the “deep-attack doctrine” against the enemy during the Great Prophet 12 drill on Iran's southern coasts last December.
 
Pakpour also hailed the progress in the IRGC Ground Force's drone and missile capabilities.
 
"The Islamic Republic of Iran has turned into a credible regional power and it is intolerable for the US. Targeting an enemy drone that happened recently changed the conditions in favor of the Islamic Republic," he said.
 
On June 20, the IRGC shot down an advanced US-made RQ-4 Global Hawk that had intruded into Iranian airspace.
 
The unmanned US aircraft had been taken down by Iran’s indigenous Khordad 3 air defense system after it breached the country’s airspace on a spying mission despite the IRGC’s numerous warnings.
 
Elsewhere in his remarks, Pakpour warned that if Tehran shows weakness in the face of sanctions,  the enemies would use them as a tool against the nation.