A third World War may be in the cards: Iranian official

Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of Expediency Council, in a TV talk show on Channel One on December 12 said the Middle East region is like a powder keg on the threshold of a massive explosion.

The following is the translation of part of his remarks that has been released on the website of the Young Journalists Club:

The Middle East is pregnant with a massive explosion

The secretary of the Expediency Council says the Middle East is pregnant with a giant explosion which has its roots in border violations.

He added: “This is a danger that threatens all regional states, and if all countries are against the eruption of a big war they should roll up their sleeves to prevent this big peril from materializing and put out this flame. The UN can play an effective role in this regard.

“Given regional developments, a truly global mobilization, not based on national interests, is needed to take shape among all regional states.

“The US is currently trying to rescue Takfiri groups, and it does not want to defuse the explosion. It is simply after intensifying that explosion in the Middle East. They [the Americans] are willy-nilly escalating the regional insecurity.”

Time is ripe to use diplomatic potential to bring about a Turkey-Russia agreement

Mohsen Rezaei said: “We do not accept hasty measures in regional developments. In light of regional developments, Iran should tap into its capabilities, including diplomatic potential, because it is the best time to secure an agreement between Turkey and Russia.

“Iran can presently use its active diplomacy to bring Turkey and Russia closer to each other and temper tensions between the two countries.”

The secretary of the Expediency Council further said what happened defies logic. When aircraft stray into a country’s airspace, they should be issued warnings.

“We have witnessed several times during the past years that the aircraft belonging to Greece have strayed into Turkey’s airspace and Turkey has warned them. Similar incidents involving Turkish aircraft crossing Greece’s airspace have taken place. The two countries have limited their response to warnings and no shot has been fired. What happened to the Russian aircraft is a serious puzzle; the Turkish air force fired instead of issuing a warning.”

[Moscow and Ankara have been locked in a war of words since November 24, when Turkey downed the Russian Su-24 fighter jet over Syria, claiming that it had entered Turkish airspace, an accusation strongly rejected by Moscow.]

Why Turkish forces are deployed to Iraq?

On Turkish military presence in Iraq, Major General Rezaei said: “Over the past 30 years Turkey has repeatedly entered Iraq. Those troop movements were solely aimed at cracking down on the opposition and they (Turkish forces) had never been in Iraq for long-term tours.

“However, this time Turkey intends to station its forces in Iraq. Turkish soldiers are now alongside Daesh forces. Some analysts believe that Turkey has entered Iraq to support Daesh.

“There are other analysts who believe this [the deployment of Turkish forces to Iraq] has been plotted by Masoud Barzani [President of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region since 2005] to establish an independent country in northern Iraq.

Secretary of Iran’s Expediency Council Mohsen Rezaei then underlined: “There are also some other analysts who say the US, which is after disintegrating Iraq, has tasked Turkey with doping its dirty work.”

Rezaei added: “No matter how you look at it, the final analysis would be negative.”