November 20, 2014 | Quote

Cleric: Iran Will Use ‘Suicide Operations to Send its Message to the World’


A hardline Iranian cleric affiliated with the country’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said Iran has used “suicide operations” in the past and will use them again “to send its message to the world,” according to a translation of his original Farsi remarks.

Saeed Ghasseminejad, an Iranian dissident and associate fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), explained that suicide operations are a key tool in Iran’s war against the West.

“Nowadays when we think about suicide attacks we automatically thinks of Sunni jihadists, but one should not forget it was the Islamic Republic of Iran that skillfully crafted suicide bombing as a religious weapon, popularized the concept, and made it an effective tool in fighting against infidels,” Ghasseminejad said, noting that the 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut was carried out by such groups.

“Martyrdom, suicide bombing, and victory of blood over sword are backbones of the revolutionary version of Shi’ism on which the Islamic Republic was established and shaped,” he said.

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Issues:

Iran