BICOM

According to a report in the Daily Telegraph yesterday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has ordered the country’s elite Quds Force to step up attacks against the West and its allies around the world.

The Telegraph cited Western intelligence officials as saying that Khamenei gave the order following a recent emergency meeting of Iran’s National Security Council in Tehran. At the meeting a report on the repercussions of the possible overthrow of Syrian President Bashar Assad for Iran was discussed.

The report, according to the Telegraph, determined that a combination of UN sanctions and the West’s backing of the Syrian opposition forces had threatened Iran’s national interests. As a result, the report suggested that Iran issue a warning to “America, the Zionists, Britain, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and others” over their actions in Syria and in the region. According to the Telegraph, Khamenei then proceeded to direct Qassem Suleimani, the commander of the elite Quds Force, to step up attacks against the West.

Earlier in the week, a top Iranian official warned that an Israeli attack on Iran would lead to Israel’s “annihilation”. The comment, by the former head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, Mohsen Rezaei, came after the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s air force said that an Israeli airstrike against his country’s nuclear facilities was “welcome” as it would give Iran a reason to “get rid of” the Jewish state “forever.”

The Revolutionary Guard’s air force head added that in the event of an Israeli strike Iran’s response would be “swift, decisive and destructive.” He also claimed that Israel’s threats of a strike are just part of a psychological war against Iran.