An Iranian long-range shore-to-sea Qader (Capable) missile is launched during the Velayat-90 naval drill near the Strait of Hormuz, southern Iran, January 2, 2012.
A high-ranking Iranian military official says the West has recognized Iran's leading and influential role in regional developments.
Speaking at a ceremony in the capital Tehran on Thursday, Deputy Director of the Army’s Intelligence Agency Major General Tabatabaei said the reason why the West has come to the negotiating table with Iran is that it has realized Iran’s influential role in the regional equations, particularly the recent developments in the Arab world.
He also described the leadership of the Islamic Republic, national unity and the full preparedness of the Iranian Armed Forces as the major reasons that have deterred the West from putting into practice its belligerent threats against Iran.
He added that the United States has pursued hegemonic doctrines over the course of time, and the international developments in recent decades, including the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, stem from such a principle.
Major General Tabatabaei pointed to the high status of Iran in terms of intelligence superiority and noted that the country has gained a ‘behavorisitic’ understanding of the enemy through intelligence monitoring.
Iran and the six world powers of the P5+1 - Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany - held their latest round of talks in the Turkish city of Istanbul on April 14.
Iran had welcomed the resumption of the talks based on common grounds, and had made it clear it would not negotiate over any of its fundamental rights.
Over the past years, Iran has made important breakthroughs in its defense sector and attained self-sufficiency in producing important military equipment and systems.
The country has repeatedly clarified that its military might is merely based on the nation's defense doctrine of deterrence and and that it poses no threat to other countries.
MP/HJL/IS
