IRGC's chief commander: Any threat to our borders will be met with firm, timely response

The chief commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) says any possible threat posed to the country’s border areas as a result of the ongoing conflict between the Republic of Azerbaijan and neighboring Armenia will be met with a “firm and timely” response.

“Necessary measures have been taken to give a firm and timely response to any threat or [act of] aggression against border areas,” Major General Hossein Salami said on Thursday as he was inspecting the situation along Iran’s northwestern border with the Caucasus region.

Warning the warring parties in Caucasus against posing any possible threat to Iran’s border areas, IRGC’s chief commander emphasized that necessary defensive and security measures have been taken commensurate with the situation in the border areas together with vigilant presence of military units along the border.

Major General Salami’s comments came after Iran’s Armed Forces warned the warring sides in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict about a tough response if its border security is jeopardized.

Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi, the spokesman of the Iranian Armed Forces, said in late October that “while strengthening defensive [measures] in Iran’s border lines, the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic announce that security in the border areas and of the Iranian people are their red line.”

Iran Armed Forces warn Armenia, Azerbaijan of tough response if border security red lines violated

It has been the worst spate of fighting between the two former Soviet republics since the 1990s.

Elsewhere in his Thursday remarks, the IRGC’s chief commander said, “Sustainable security is our red line and any form of insecurity and threat along borders, which would harm security and peace of mind of our dear people, would be unacceptable.”

Since late September, heavy clashes have been underway between Azerbaijani and Armenian military forces over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Both sides blame each other for initiating the fighting in the Caucasus Mountains.

It has been the worst spate of fighting between the two former Soviet republics since the 1990s.

Speaking to reporters in early October, Iran’s Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami warned the warring parties involved in military clashes over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region that Tehran will take stronger measures than warnings if the shells fired in the fighting continue to hit the country’s border regions even by mistake.

“It is not acceptable at all that a bullet hits the Islamic Republic’s borders due to a mistake or carelessness,” Hatami added.

Iran will take stronger measures than warnings if hit by Karabakh war bullets: Defense minister

The Iranian defense chief says Tehran will take stronger measures than warnings if the shells fired in the Karabakh war continue to hit the country even by mistake.

Since the beginning of the Karabakh conflict some 10 days ago, Hatami said the Iranian border areas have several times been shelled by mistake.

He added that Iran had already given the Republic of Azerbaijan and Armenia the “necessary warnings” in the wake of those incidents.

Azerbaijan’s breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh is mainly inhabited by ethnic Armenians. Though a ceasefire was agreed in 1994, Baku and Yerevan continue to accuse each other of shooting attacks around the enclave.

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