‘No ceasefire’: Khamenei military adviser warns war with Israel could restart at any time

Military official Yahya Rahim Safavi says Islamic Republic must strengthen ‘missile, drone and cyber offensive strategy’ to withstand ‘peace through power’ policy of US and Israel

A senior official in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Sunday that another war with Israel or the United States could begin at any time.

“We are not in a ceasefire, we are in a stage of war. No protocol, regulation or agreement has been written between us and the US or Israel,” Yahya Rahim Safavi, a senior military adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, told Iranian media.

“I think another war may happen, and after that, there may be no more wars,” he added, according to a translation by Iran International.

“The Americans and the Zionists say they create peace through power; therefore, Iran must also become strong, because in the system of nature, the weak are trampled,” Safavi said.

“We must strengthen our diplomatic, media, missile, drone and cyber offensive strategy. We, the military, do scenario-planning, we see the worst case, and we prepare a plan for it.”

In late July, Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, threatened to attack Israel and the US in a “more decisive manner” if either of them targeted the Islamic Republic again.

“If there are concerns about the possible diversion of our nuclear program into non-peaceful purposes, the ‘military option’ proved incapable — but a negotiated solution may work,” Araghchi said.

After declaring an Israeli victory in July, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to renew attacks on Iran if the Islamic Republic continued to enrich uranium, saying that “if anyone in Iran tries to rebuild [the nuclear program], we will act with the same determination, with the same intensity, to foil any attempt.”

The 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran began on June 13 with a surprise Israeli attack.

Israel said its sweeping assault on Iran’s top military leaders, nuclear scientists, uranium enrichment sites, and ballistic missile program was necessary to prevent the Islamic Republic from realizing its avowed plan to destroy the Jewish state.

Iran has consistently denied seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. However, it enriched uranium to levels that have no peaceful application, obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities, and expanded its ballistic missile capabilities. Israel said Iran had recently taken steps toward weaponization.

Iran retaliated to Israel’s strikes by launching over 500 ballistic missiles and around 1,100 drones at Israel.

The attacks killed 31 people and wounded over 3,000 in Israel, according to health officials and hospitals.

In all, there were 36 missile impacts and one drone strike in populated areas, causing damage to 2,305 homes in 240 buildings, along with two universities and a hospital, and leaving over 13,000 Israelis displaced.