Mohammed Al Shaikh

By : Mohammed Al Shaikh

:: Iranians are such pathological liars that they delude themselves into believing their own falsehoods. They claim that they are a regional power, yet they avoid any face-to-face confrontation with their opponents. After being bitterly defeated by Iraqis, Imam Khomeini made the claim that he was forced to drink poison. In fact, he died two years after the setback.

A general of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Cops (IRGC) stated about a week ago that if the United States were to designate the IRGC a terrorist group, Iranians would have no option but to treat Americans as they had treated ISIS fighters. The statement clearly smacks of self-delusion, for Iran has started believing that its forces had defeated and expelled ISIS from Iraq and Syria and not Iraqis, with support from the US-led coalition forces.

Iran’s ragtag bunch of militias

If the world had turned a blind eye on the ISIS and had not confronted them with their joint forces, especially the US Air Force, the terrorist organization would have not only gone on to annex Baghdad, but even Tehran and then Qom, just like they had taken control of Mosul and the adjoining areas within days. The Iranian military is just a paper tiger. It is only a mercenary force with few primitive missiles, which it has manufactured using North Korean technology and its ability to hit targets is very poor. It could have never defeated the ISIS on its own and could never match the doughtiness of its fighters. In fact, ISIS and Al-Nusra front had almost taken control of Damascus, and were so close to defeating the Assad army and the militias of Iran and Hezbollah that Russia had to deploy its air power to save them from bitter defeat.

No US president has been as weak, confused and hesitant as President Barack Obama

Mohammed Al Shaikh

In fact, Iran and its militias were almost crushed by the gangs of ISIS in Damascus, so how can they stand up even for a few minutes in front of the strongest military known to history and mankind — the United States. However, Iranians and their Shiite proxy militia are proficient at exaggerating their military prowess, embellishing their victories, and attributing false achievements to themselves, while in fact they were supported by others.

Obama emboldened Iran

No US president has been as weak, confused and hesitant as President Barack Obama. In my assessment, it is his weakness, his betrayal, his cowardice, and his trepidation in taking any strong and critical decisions that has deceived Iranians into believing that they are a regional power that needs acknowledgement. The fact is that they are just a group of militias consisting of non-professional gangs and mercenaries, who have learnt the use of terrorist jargon well. However, when it comes to fighting organized armies, they are quite incapable and weak. They cannot pick up a fight against them even for a few hours. In fact, the entire Iranian military, including all its formations, do not have any fighter aircraft at their command, with the exception of homegrown drones which cannot provide air cover in any battle against professional armies.

Ironically, Iranians are seeking to enter into confrontation with the outside world. They are deliberately playing up their aggressive rhetoric to distract the attention of their population from the terrible economic and development failures at home. However, the state of economic decline is worsening by the day. However, the people of Iran cannot be deceived forever.

:: Mohammed Al Shaikh is a Saudi writer with al-Jazirah newspaper. He tweets @alshaikhmhmd.

:: Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in the Column section are their own and do not reflect RiyadhVision’s point-of-view.

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