West’s Call for Self-Restraint Means Green Light for More Terrors
IRAN NEWS NATIONAL DESK
TEHRAN – Iran Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Ebrahim Raisi says Western countries are showing green light for the continuation of terror when they call for self-restraint.
“Westerners who call for restraint in the face of terror are actually showing green light to terrorists,” he said in a local judicial event on Monday.
The remarks come as European countries have called on Iran to show ‘self-restraint’ in response to the assassination of Iranian top scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh on Friday.
Raisi also urged related military, judicial, and security officials to form a special task force to identify and prosecute those behind the assassination.
Naming Fakhrizadeh as the ‘hero’ of ‘nullifying sanctions and threats’ in defense and nuclear fields, Raisi said “Experience shows that to counter sanctions and terror, one should only become stronger.”
The logic of ‘producing power’ has become the mindset of Iranian youth in different fields, he said, adding that one should not neglect to adopt deterrent measures against the enemy as “it only understands the language of power.”
Sanction and terror are two sides of the same coin and it is a mistake to pin hope on the lifting of sanctions through negotiation, he added.
Speaking at a meeting of the Judiciary’s High Council on Monday, Raeisi ordered the country’s prosecutor general to set up a special task force in cooperation with the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, the Armed Force’s Judicial Organization, and the security and intelligence organizations in order to prosecute the people who ordered and perpetrated the assassination attack on Fakhrizadeh.
The top judge also urged the Iranian security and intelligence forces to immediately detect and disband the “infiltration network” across the country and take action against the insiders sending signals to the enemies.
Paying tribute to Fakhrizadeh as the hero of “nullifying the sanctions and threats” in the nuclear and defense industries, Raeisi emphasized the need for strong “preventive measures” because “the enemy knows only the logic of force.”
“Sanctions and assassination are two sides of the same coin. The Westerners that appeal for (Iran to exercise) self-restraint vis-a-vis assassination are in fact giving terrorists the green light,” he added.
The Judiciary chief went on to say that it would be a mistake to hope for a removal of sanctions through negotiations.
Meanwhile yesterday in a ceremony, akhrizadeh was laid to rest three days after his assassination outside Tehran, with the country’s defense minister pledging to continue his work “with more speed and more power.”
He was buried at Imamzadeh Saleh mosque in Tajrish in northern Tehran’s Shemiran district on Monday after a detailed funeral ceremony was held in the morning.
The cortege began at the Ministry of Defense in east Tehran, with top state and military officials on hand to pay their respect to a man who played a leading role in bolstering Iran’s defense power and advancing its nuclear energy program.
An honor guard carried the casket containing his remains which reportedly received three shots during an ambush in a boulevard in Absard where assailants blew up an explosives-laden Nissan truck before targeting him and his security detail in a hail of bullets.
