At the commemoration for the Iran-Iraq war in the city of Qom, the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, talked about the importance of the war in shaping Iran’s identity and achievements at present. He said that today’s officials should continue “the values” of the Sacred Defense, which is how Iran refers to the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s.

Jafari also discussed the nuclear negotiations between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (P5+1), reiterating that the negotiations are simply about the nuclear program and not anything beyond that.

He said, “The esteem of Iran is from the achievements of the Sacred Defense. It’s America that with hardship is after a [nuclear] agreement with Iran to resolve its problems. They know that if they have enmity with Iran they will not reach any of their goals and they know that the Islamic revolution is in their way and will not allow them to reach their goals.”

According to the transcript by Tasnim News Agency, Jafari did not elaborate what those goals were though many within the conservative factions in Iran accuse the United States of using instability in the region to maintain its hegemony.