Former IRGC Commander Proposes ‘Islamic Army’ Against Israel

Rezaee, who is a member of the Islamic Republic’s constitutional Expediency Council, told Al Jazeera in an interview that Israel finds itself “in a quagmire” and the current war “could become a long and global conflict.”

Although Iranian officials have been strongly supporting Hamas since the October 7 terror attack on Israel, so far they have hesitated in widening the conflict.

The senior regime insider also repeated some of the claims made by other officials, including an assertion that the United States is running Israel’s war in Gaza. He added, “The Zionist regime lacks the knowledge of popular struggles and has entered a vast quagmire, possibly taking action to expand the war in the region to conceal it.”

Rezaee is known for his suggestion a few years ago to take American servicemen, who are in the Middle East hostage and then demand a one-billion-dollar ransom for each.

He is also known as one of the first members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard since the early days of the Islamic Republic.

Rezaee stated, “My suggestion is for Islamic governments to establish an Islamic army to counteract excesses and the interventions of the United States and Israel in the region.” He claimed, that the destruction of Hamas and Islamic Jihad is impossible, stating: "Resistance groups have sufficient capabilities in ground warfare, and they will defeat Israel again. The future of the war depends on the behavior of the United States and the Zionist regime in the coming days."