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On April 14, 2019, an interview with former IRGC General Saeed Ghasemi was uploaded to the Iranian media website apparat.com. Gen. Ghasemi said that ISIS had been created by Hillary Clinton and he criticized the Iranian government for focusing on the JCPOA rather than Iran’s “great victory” against ISIS. He criticized President Hassan Rouhani for not having visited Syria yet, and said that if Iran joins the JCPOA then people from France, Holland, and the U.S. would come and rape Iranian women like American forces did in Okinawa. Ghasemi recounted his experience training mujahideen in Bosnia and Herzegovina under the cover of being a Red Crescent member and said that the IRGC worked alongside Al-Qaeda during that time. He said that it was “marvelous” that people who were loyal to Iran came from Turkey, France, Germany, and Tunisia to fight in Bosnia, like the foreigners who had come to fight in Syria. Ghasemi praised Hizbullah Sec.-Gen. Hassan Nasrallah and Iranian filmmaker Nader Talebzadeh, and said that if the Arak reactor ever fell into the hands of “the people of the party of Allah,” then Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Iranian FM Javad Zarif, and Iran’s atomic energy chief Ali Akbar Salehi would be prosecuted, and that he would then give them a prison uniform, a ball and chain, a pickaxe, and a sledgehammer so they could take out the cement that had been poured into the reactor.
Following are excerpts:
Former IRGC General Saeed Ghasemi: The story of ISIS... Hillary Clinton said: 'I created it. I'm the mother of the ISIS members.' Bill Clinton... Or that nobody, Trumpet... He slammed her, saying: 'You created it, now go clean up your mess.' Netanyahu said to Hillary: 'You idiot, we have never had Iranians on our border! What is this uncontrollable thing that you have created?' The defeat of ISIS was a great victory over the leadership of heresy. I'm taking this opportunity to criticize the irrelevant [Iranian] government. Not only have they not helped, but their great 'victory'... They make so much noise about the silly and failing JCPOA, but they say nothing about the great victory of the army of Islam in Syria's liberation. [Rouhani] is still not ready to travel to Syria, not even once – but he did go to garbage-dump countries like Thailand.
[...]
After U.N. Resolution 598 [ending the Iran-Iraq war], the U.N. forces were brought over. We and the guys [from the IRGC] were sent to Hotel Azadi in order to serve as liaisons with the U.N. people.
[...]
I saw that the U.N. people were wearing military uniforms. I was about to open the elevator door when I saw an American, 2.1 meter tall, in Western clothes: a leather vest, shoes with spurs, and a leather belt with a buckle, like that... The only thing he didn't have were revolvers. When the elevator door opened, I bumped into his chest. I had to look up to see his face. They brought this typecast – cowboy clothes, American style... What you see in the movies. He was wearing a Western hat. He gave me a slap on the back and said: 'Hello, my friend!'
[...]
The following day, I saw the U.N. soldiers going to Park Vey junction, picking up Iranian girls, bringing them to the hotel lobby, and taking them up to their rooms. Excuse me, but we are guards of the army of Islam! We fought... The next day, we were told to take them to the frontline near Fakkeh, where the body of one of our warriors still lay. They were drinking alcohol, and they threw the bottles into the ditch. At that moment I said: 'That's it. I'm leaving. Goodbye, everybody.' For several years after this, I didn't deliver any speeches. Everybody knows this. Mentally, I was a mess. Even now, when I tell the story, it torments me. If you accept the JCPOA, they will come – the French, the Dutch, the Americans in the form of the U.N. – and they will do what they did in Japan and Okinawa – Rape. Official rape. They come and take [the girls] before your eyes, and you, as a guard in the army of Islam, will be there and you will see your honor being plundered, and you are the one guarding [the rapists]. I said: 'Goodbye to you all!'
[...]
I recall that [then-senior IRGC official] Hossein Allahkaram came to my house about Bosnia.
[...]
I said: 'Bosnia?' and he said: 'Yes.' As he left, my wife said: 'What's going on? The ambassador of death came again?' I said: 'No.' She said: 'Where are you going?' I answered: 'We want to go to Bosnia.' She said: 'Bosnia?' At the time, there was talk about Muslims being slaughtered [there]. I said: 'Don't be afraid. We will go as diplomats.' My wife burst into laughter. She said: 'Diplomat? Saeed Ghasemi wants to go as a diplomat?'
[...]
Interviewer: What was you role there? Jihadi? Military? Consultation?
Former IRGC General Saeed Ghasemi: Now I can tell you what the role was. Everyone knows now. We went as Red Crescent members to provide military training to the mujahideen forces.
Interviewer: So the Red Crescent was a cover, and you functioned as military advisors...
Former IRGC General Saeed Ghasemi: Since the Americans wrote about this in their books... Several books have been published so far. This lady... Our 'countrywoman'... The reporter during the discord of 2009, Ms. Christiane [Amanpour]. All our statesmen like being interviewed by her. Mr. Ahmadinejad likes speaking with her, and Mr. Rouhani, for instance... She is probably like a godsister to our statesmen. One of the officials responsible for exposing this information was that dishonorable spy for CNN and BBC, Christiane.
Interviewer: She was a reporter.
Former IRGC General Saeed Ghasemi: "The last time she came was during the discord of 2009. Her last report was directly from Enghelab Street, and Azadi Square could be seen behind her. [She said:] 'This is the end of the road of revolution' – meaning, 'this report I am making is the Revolution's last station.'
[...]
The truth is that in Bosnia – in the heart of Europe – things happened that our presence and that in our footsteps... Al-Qaeda came... There was a time when we were in Bosnia and Herzegovina together with Al-Qaeda members. They copied our style, from the headband and the flags... They named their regiments such-and-such...
[...]
Something new happened there – the establishment of Muslim jihadi units. What happened in the last five or six years in Syria happened before in Bosnia. Turks who were [loyal to the regime] and disciples of Imam [Khomeini] came from Turkey. Those in France, Germany, and Tunisia also came. It was a marvelous event. The Basij movement of the world of Islam – [it] was Ruhollah [Khomeini]'s dream.
Interviewer: Seeds of resistance.
Former IRGC General Saeed Ghasemi: Yes, seeds of resistance formed there.
[...]
Interviewer: I will tell you a few names. Tell me the first thing that comes to your mind. Very briefly, of course.
[...]
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
Former IRGC General Saeed Ghasemi: The real standard-bearer of Islam's revolutionary movement, and the real son of Ruhollah [Khomeini].
[...]
Interviewer: The reactor in Arak.
Former IRGC General Saeed Ghasemi: A place that if it were to one day fall into the hands of the people of the party of Allah, figures like [Ali Akbar] Salehi, [Javad] Zarif, and Hassan Rouhani would be prosecuted, and I would dress them in striped prison uniforms with a ball and chain, and give them a pickaxe and a sledgehammer so they can take out the cement they put in the [reactor] and so that people can learn a lesson from history.
Interviewer: Nader Talebzadeh.
Former IRGC General Saeed Ghasemi: The fighter on the media frontline.
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