Iranian researcher Dr. Sam Mehdi Torabi, the Director of the Risalat Strategic Studies Institute, said in a February 11, 2020 interview on Iranian filmmaker Nader Talebzadeh's show on Ofogh TV (Iran) that American soldiers are committing suicide because they served in an oppressive army, because they have killed innocent people, and because the wars they have fought in, such as Vietnam and the Second World War, are unjust. He also said that pressure from Iran is the only thing that will lead to the expulsion of the U.S. from the Middle East and he elaborated that this should involve the development of strategic weapons and attacks against U.S. bases in the region. For a related interview on Talebzadeh's show, see MEMRI TV Clip No. 7839.
Dr. Mehdi Torabi: "[The suicide of U.S. soldiers] that you see now – it happened also in the Vietnam War, in WWII, and in the Korean War. When these soldiers... As a human being, any soldier who has to serve in an oppressive army that kills innocent people and that is not in a defensive situation, in a way that is unjust... We shouldn't be surprised that this is how the soldiers react. That's one point. Another point is that Trump himself has said that they are facing a crisis in this regard.
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"I do not know of any cases of suicide among our soldiers or warriors. This is partly related to our faith in Islam. Although a person who is in fear may do this against his religious beliefs, but we do not have any such cases. This is because these people do not feel that they have done something wrong. When they went out to war, they did not do anything bad. Even those who went to Syria or Iraq – I'm not talking about the [Iran-Iraq] War of Holy Defense. This is one of the places where we can see how just are ways are and how false the other way is."
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Nader Talebzadeh: "The plan they made for September 11... It was pre-planned, and they immediately entered the region. That is, they came to Afghanistan, and after two years they attacked Iraq. Few Iranians know that this event was very important.
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"It is a big lie. They were ready to crush 3500 people under concrete in order to serve the security of whom? Of Israel.
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"Many people don't notice the dimensions of this lie. What happened after [9/11]? Many of the soldiers who entered the fray... The psychological analysis of the American soldiers is very interesting. Their IQ isn't very high, because they are poor. Many of them come from poor families, or are immigrants.
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"The script is very dramatic. One of the results of this lie is that the soldiers are committing suicide. Even when they ask why – and one looks at publications and essays – one can see that they are not looking for the real reason: The war itself is not legitimate. It is based on a lie, on transgression, and on injustice."
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Dr. Mehdi Torabi: "The only thing that would bring about the expulsion of America from the region is pressure by Iran. Look, if you need to run away from somewhere, you can run maybe one kilometer, but if you have a predatory animal chasing you, you will run 10 kilometers, and you will run faster.
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"The only thing that will lead to the expulsion of America from the region is pressure by Iran – I'm talking about real pressure, not just talk or harsh letters. Inshallah, we will carry out more actions like those we carried out after the martyrdom of Hajj Qasem [Soleimani]. I'd like to add another point, with your permission, Mr. Talebzadeh... We in Iran must start talking seriously about strategic weapons. What does this mean? It means that the person who is behind all this injustice [Trump] is also easily threatening our capital city, our Leader, and his office. As a strategist, or as one who has learned a little bit about strategic issues, the answer to this is for us to have the ability to carry out a strategic response. When we bring up the issue of the missiles, we are referring to the absolute necessity of missile capability and to the fact that these missiles need to potentially be able to strike any location in the world. We must already dispense of the pleasantries that have been used so far. The reason we have had these until now is that we had certain hopes that perhaps the Europeans wouldn't be offended by us raising the issue of increasing the range of the missiles to over 2,000 km and 5,000 km. We now saw the truth about the Europeans, so we should no longer take them into consideration.
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"If they knew that we could respond strategically with missiles, we could easily negotiate about what it is we want. That is, first we need to have the capability... There is no need to brag about it, they just need to know that we have this capability... After this, go negotiate for whatever you want. Nobody opposes negotiations, but you first need to have this capability. I feel that we have now come to the point where we can adopt this approach in the world and the rest of the world will accept this."