You’re surely aware of all the talk of war with Iran over the weekend. If not, please see here, here, here, and here.

On Sunday’s Meet the Press, President Trump warned that a war with the Middle Eastern country would result in “obliteration like you’ve never seen before.”

Well, apparently ours wasn’t the only side to describe a major conflict in extreme terms.

As reported by the Middle East Media Research Institute, on June 20th, former Iranian Minister of Defense General Hossein Dehghan — and current advisor of defense affairs to the nation’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei — claimed that, if attacked, Iran will throw America into “the garbage bin of history” and “erase” Israel “from the face of the earth.”

The comments were made during an interview on Iraq’s Al-Nujaba TV:

“It has become clear that what is important to the (Americans) is to protect the lives of their soldiers, and the equipment in their bases in the region. They know full well that most of those bases are within the range of our missiles, and that our military can totally obliterate those bases. They consider this even before they take into account the lives and property of their allies.”

America certainly has a responsibility to protect its soldiers at the outset.

Hossein said Trump knows a war with Iran wouldn’t be easy:

“Trump proved once again that he is merely an agent of his administration’s interests, that a war in this region would not be a walk in the park, that the United States is by no means ready for war, and that he completely understands how strong Iran is. What we understand from the behavior of the Americans is that they fear very much the break out of a war in the region. They are not ready for this, and they cannot assemble an international coalition, because there is no U.N. resolution to begin with. They don’t have global legal consensus to do this.”

Khamenei's Defense Advisor Gen. Hossein Dehghan: If War Breaks Out, We will Erase Israel, Send America to the Garbage Bin of History pic.twitter.com/6DCugeXhFl

— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) June 23, 2019

There’s a lot to unpack there, but no president should wish to rush into war.

This latest bout of conflict began, of course, when Iran shot down a U.S. spy drone over the Straight of Hormuz Thursday. Trump explained that he called off a retaliatory strike after learning it would cause 150 deaths.

You know that walk in the park Hossein was talking about? He also thinks Israel’s aware of the same:

“Israel has realized that this war would not be a walk in the park. The flame of this war will move immediately to Israel. Israel knows that Iran will erase its entity and uproot it from existence in case of a war. In my personal opinion, this war will not take place – not because America does not want war, but because Iran is strong enough to engage in confrontation. Iran would achieve a great victory, and America would find itself in the garbage bin of history. There would no longer be an Israel on the land of Palestine. We would totally erase it from the face of the earth.”

I’m pretty sure that’s the first time I’ve heard of a Middle Eastern military guy using “in my personal opinion.” It doesn’t much appear to be the trendiest cultural style among the region’s defense leaders.

As for the garbage bin of history, those are fierce words, indeed — ones that I imagine Donald J. Trump would have something to say about.

Concerning the tiny, threatened nation Israel, in my opinion, that’s no small consideration. America must protect its troops, but also its allies.

The rhetoric has risen, but the President made clear to Chuck Todd Sunday — though in a stern way — that he’s here to talk with Iran, not blow them up:

“I’m not looking for war, and if there is, it’ll be obliteration like you’ve never seen before. But I’m not looking to do that. But you can’t have a nuclear weapon. You want to talk? Good. Otherwise, you can have a bad economy for the next three years.”

-ALEX

Relevant RedState links in this article: here, here, here, and here.

See 3 more pieces from me:

Resist! County Clerks From Both Parties Declare War Against Andrew Cuomo, Refuse To Give Licenses To Illegal Immigrants

Alaska Government Meeting Opens With A Satanic Prayer Followed By ‘Hail Satan.’ The Mayor’s Response Is Explicit

The Left Condemns Chuck Todd For His Correction Of AOC’s Embarrassingly Ignorant Concentration Camp Remarks

Find all my RedState work here.

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