President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday proclaimed that Iran was the “most powerful nation” in the world as the country’s air force boasted of its prowess at a time of mounting tension with the West.
“Iran is the most powerful and independent nation in the world,” Ahmadinejad told a military parade outside Tehran marking the Islamic republic’s annual Army Day.
Ahmadinejad said all the branches of the armed forces would react forcefully in response to any attack against Iran’s soil and boasted that no one would dare to launch a strike on the country.
“The army, the Revolutionary Guards and the Basij [militia] will resist with force and coordination and respond strongly to the slightest aggression,” he said. “I am proud to announce today that the Iranian nation’s power is of an extent that no major power can dare jeopardize the security and interests of the Iranian nation.”
To mark the occasion, dozens of Iranian fighter jets and other aircraft flew over the parade ground in a bid to show the power of the air force which has struggled for years under the effects of US sanctions.
Among the aircraft on display were US-made F4 and F-5 fighter jets whose construction goes back to the 1960s and 1970s when shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi went on a massive military spending spree.
Also on display were several Saegheh fighter jets which Iran says is a entirely home-produced model but Western experts classify as a derivative of the F-5.
Iran’s air force has been hit hard by the blanket US embargo imposed after the toppling of the pro-US shah in the 1979 Islamic revolution, and the country must work intensely to find spare parts to keep its fleet in the air.
Iran is at odds with the West over its disputed nuclear program, which the US and its allies fear could be used to make nuclear weapons.
Iran has in recent weeks been engaged in an intensifying war of words with Israel after an Israeli minister warned Iran would be destroyed if it launched an attack against the Jewish state.
“If Israel takes such action against the Islamic Republic of Iran, we will eliminate it from the global arena,” deputy army commander Mohammad Reza Ashtiani riposted Tuesday.
Ahmadinejad repeated his belief that the power of Iran meant the prevailing world order was set to be turned on its head.
“Thanks to the resistance of the Iranian people, the great powers have become bogged down. The region and the world must prepare for great changes and the disappearance of satanic powers,” he said.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to