The remarks were made by a key figure in Iran's legislature, who warned that Tehran was hiding “new weapons and tactics” for a final conflict, according to exiled Iranian website Iran International.
“I hope this war turns into a land war so that we witness the burial of American soldiers in the Persian Gulf region,” parliamentarian Mohammad Saleh Jokar told the press in Tehran on Friday.
Mohammad Saleh Jokar is a general in the Revolutionary Guards and heads the Internal Affairs Committee of the Iranian Parliament, and has been blacklisted by the European Union and other Western powers since 2011 for his role in repressing human rights, according to official European Council data.
The Iranian official questioned the military power of the United States: “America, which Trump bragged about and said we have the most powerful army in the world – where is it now?”
Iran has not yet used all the “new technologies” in the fight against the US and Israel, the parliamentarian also emphasized, adding: “We will determine the final result on the battlefield, diplomacy is no longer enough.”
On Monday, the US president said he was prepared to send US troops to Iran “if necessary”, adding that the prospect did not scare him.
“I'm not emotional about ground troops — unlike all those presidents who say, 'There's not going to be ground troops.' I'm not saying that,” Trump said in an interview with the New York Post. “I say 'We probably don't need it' or 'If it were necessary,'” the US leader then added.
