General Firouzabadi Attacks Larijani

Armed Forces Joint Staff Chief Threatens “Colluders”

The armed forces Joint Chief of Staff criticized the “faction in Majlis and administration colluding with America” and accused those who support relations with America of being enemy “infiltrators.”

Major General Seyyed Hasan Firouzabadi, who was speaking to the Joint Staff Chief generals, reacted to recent remarks by Ali Larijani indicating “reviewing possible responses to members of American Congress” by saying, “The danger that threatens the revolution today and at this juncture in time is that the Americans send messages and some people say here that we are reviewing messages from Americans.”

This military official, who received a “medal of independence” from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad two weeks earlier, added, “People who say these things are American infiltrators. The reformists said the same things too.”

What Major General Firouzabadi is criticizing in his interview are seeming attempts in recent weeks by several government officials to establish relations with the United States.

Eighth Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani, though he has likened the president-elect of the United States in recent days to a “cowboy,” in several occasions he has discussed the letter authored by several American senators seeking to negotiate with members of the Iranian Majlis. Larijani said last week to IRNA that he is reviewing the letter of American senators to Iranian lawmakers, adding, “We have not yet responded because it is necessary for us to know around what issues these negotiations would revolve.”

Major General Firouzabadi is a military figure close to the Islamic Republic Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and among the handful of military icons who have preserved their position since Khamenei’s appointment to supreme leadership. Firouzabadi has served as the Islamic Republic’s Joint Staff Chief since 1368 (1990). The institution is the highest armed forces institution in Iran which is in charge of strategizing and managing all of Iran’s armed forces, including the army, the Revolutionary Guards and the State Security Forces.