Iranian Revolutionary Guard Commander Boasts That The US In "Strong Decline"

Seemingly no amount of cash ransom payments, made in the form of Swiss Francs and Euros (you know, because USD just wasn't acceptable), are sufficient to buy off a continuously defiant Iranian government. Time and time again the Iranians continue act in a provocative fashion either taking our sailors hostage or provoking our navy fleet in international waters but we still grant more concessions. According to the Daily Mail, the latest Iranian insults come courtesy of Revolutionary Guard commander, Hossein Salami, who told a crowd gathered to celebrate the 1979 US Embassy siege that the US is in "strong decline."

A senior Iranian military official welcomed Thursday what he said was the "strong decline" of the United States, during celebrations marking the start of the 1979 US embassy siege.

"America is no longer number one and the first power of the world," deputy Revolutionary Guards commander Hossein Salami told thousands gathered outside the former US mission in Tehran.

"America's political will can no longer manage political and military development in... the world of Islam. America's political power has strongly declined."

Perhaps we're naive but this all sounds more like taunting than a country that wants to engage in reasonable discourse with the United States. Perhaps Secretary of State John Kerry could explain one more time why we lifted sanctions against a country whose commander tells a group of students that "our fight with Americans will continue" all while those students shout "death to America?"

Every year on November 3-4, Iran celebrates the 444-day siege of the embassy when more than 50 diplomats, staff and spies were taken hostage by Islamist students demanding the extradition of the shah, who had fled to America after being deposed a few months earlier in the Islamic revolution.

The crisis severed US-Iranian diplomatic ties for decades, but Tehran last year clinched a deal with world powers to curb its controversial nuclear programme in exchange for an easing of economic sanctions.

Protesters on Thursday chanted the traditional rallying cries of "Death to America" and "Death to the House of Saud", in reference to Iran's regional rival Saudi Arabia.

But the US remains Iran's main enemy, and Tehran and Washington back opposing sides in several regional conflicts, including Syria and Yemen.

"Our fight with the Americans will continue" Salami said. "Pursuing our ideals in the world of Islam and in Iran, we will recognise no stopping point or red line."

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http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-11-04/iranian-revolutionary-guard-commander-boasts-us-strong-decline