In a January 22, 2018 speech at an awards ceremony for officials from the Iranian diplomatic corps, Gen. Mohammad Reza Naqdi, former Basij commander and director of the culture and society division of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), emphasized that Iran's Islamic revolution was spreading in the Middle East, and that uprisings in the spirit of this revolution were anticipated in Egypt and Tunisia. However, he said, the U.S. is collapsing, as its own president had declared, and its political influence in the region is stricken and waning.
Having said this, he went on to warn, against the backdrop of the recent popular uprising in Iran, about Western propaganda, especially American propaganda, that he said depicts revolutionary Iran in crisis. This situation, he said, is not real and exists only on social media, and was invented by the West in order to cultivate despair about the Iranian regime among the Iranian people.
As an example of the collapse of the West, Naqdi noted that the UK has appointed a "minister of loneliness," and advised Prime Minister Theresa May to examine why matters had reached such a low point. He concluded by saying that Asia and Africa were taking over the West, particularly Europe, and added that "in the next century, they'll have to look for the European gene in museums."
Gen. Mohammad Reza Naqdi (Source: IRNA, Iran, January 22, 2018).
Naqdi's speech reflects the Iranian regime's indoctrination efforts in the wake of last month's popular uprising across the country. The following is the translation of his speech:[1]
"All the global developments are quickly leading to the defeat of the arrogance [i.e. the U.S. and the West]. The Islamic State (ISIS) was defeated in Syria and Iraq, and has collapsed, causing [the U.S.] to bring, in its place, the issue of Kurdish independence in Iraq – and also in this matter they got a ringing slap in the face.
"[Other] things happened, such as Lebanese prime minister [Sa'd Al-Hariri's] resignation, at the Saudis' urging. [But] after the defeat [of its attempt] to create a crisis in Lebanon, the arrogance [U.S.] used its next plan: to harm Jerusalem. [But] America got another slap in the face, in the general vote [against it] in the UN, and the issue of Jerusalem and the Palestinians again headed the Islamic world's priorities. The next defeat of America was when this unrest [i.e. last month's popular uprising] took place in Iran.
"The commentators are trying to find the reasons for the recurring defeats of the global arrogance. In effect, America's behavior exceeds the boundaries of reason, and it cannot be measured [in this way]. America's confusion stems from many reasons, both on the ground and divine.
"God turns whoever shows evil towards His creatures into His enemy, and strips him of the ability to think, and of wisdom. The American administration has acted with great evil against the nations of the world, and that is why it is confused, and why every day we wait for its [next] illogical deeds.
"This doesn't mean that America is likely to take military measures, because today its economic might cannot bear the starting of a war, and also it has no domestic unity. American society is deteriorating and collapsing. According to the American president, America is collapsing. The American administration is in the situation that they hate the most.
"In contrast, the Islamic revolution is spreading, and some of it can [even] be seen in the countries of the region. Another part is expanding among the internal levels in countries such as Egypt and Tunisia. In the future, we can anticipate great uprisings in these countries.
"The enemies are trying, by means of extensive media warfare, to cause our nation to despair of this [Islamic] revolution, which is advancing. Our nation is in the winner's circle, [but] they want to create the fiction that our nation is a defeated front. They are using their special methods, for example, comparing a particular matter in Iran and in the best country in the world, in order to cause the Iranian nation to despair.
"Sometimes, there are those in society who believe this media warfare. It is they who are focusing only on the social media and agreeing with its false lies, because they are looking for society's reality in the media.
"The conditions created for the Islamic revolution in the world should be leveraged. Today, our foreign ministry is neither in Africa nor in Latin America. We should seize this excellent opportunity and take advantage of the fact that the countries of the world are welcoming Iran in order to create a relationship [with us].
"In England, they appointed a minister of loneliness. I want to tell the English prime minister that instead of a minister for loneliness affairs, she should appoint a minister for 'intelligent thinking' who would clarify why things have gotten to this point.
"The world is not only America and Europe, which are in a state of collapse. Most of the European countries are suffering today from negative population growth, and the European gene is on the way to extinction. The European continent is gradually giving way to the Asiatic and African genes; in the next century, they'll have to look for the European gene in museums."
[1] IRNA (Iran), January 22, 2018.
