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Iran will not bow to US policy of ‘peace through strength’: Minister
Nasirzadeh urges Iranians not to fall for psychological warfare
Iran’s Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh dismissed the US pursuit of “peace through strength,” calling it nothing more than “surrender” and saying “freedom-seeking countries” would not bow to pressure.
“The US government wants to force everyone into submission through force. This is not peace, but surrender. It means: I have strength, I have power, whatever I say, you must do,” Nasirzadeh said in a televised interview published on Saturday by Tasnim after his recent visit to Turkey.
He added that “freedom-seeking countries” and those in the developing world had long rejected the notion of “peace through strength.”
The remarks came in response to a question about US military buildup in the region, which the minister downplayed.
Nasirzadeh insisted that Iran’s Armed Forces were prepared to respond to aggression, but stressed that, “Other sectors of the country should not be affected by the psychological operations of these military deployments.”
He described such moves as part of the enemy’s “soft war,” saying it had grown “more pronounced” of late.
“When they keep repeating that an attack is imminent, they want to unsettle society … and disrupt economic stability,” the minister pointed out.
Nasirzadeh urged Iranians to continue their daily lives “without becoming trapped in the enemy’s psychological warfare.”
His comments follow days of speculation by Persian-language outlets abroad and Western media, which have circulated claims of an “imminent” Israeli strike on Iran, a narrative that Iranian officials say is intended to sow public anxiety.
The backdrop to his remarks is a dramatic escalation in June, when Israel, backed by the United States, carried out 12 consecutive days of airstrikes on Iran’s military and nuclear facilities, killing hundreds of people, most of them civilians.
Iran hit back with dozens of ballistic missile barrages targeting military and energy infrastructure inside the occupied territories.