Having a “big enemy” is both a sign of being big and a stimulation for growth and becoming powerful. If there are no signs of greatness in a given county, there is no reason for it to have a big enemy. Smaller powers can be used to oppose it. Confronting smaller powers only serves as practice for developing proficiency. But real capability is built by confronting the big, top powers. This principle applies to all economic, cultural, military, and political areas. Since the first days of the establishment of the Islamic Republic until now, it has been confronting the big powers in the world. And the U.S., as the most powerful country in various areas, has been the biggest enemy of the Islamic Republic.
This opposition reveals that the Islamic Revolution is not an ordinary event. It is an event that has challenged the illegitimate interests of the powers, or the so-called Arrogant Powers and Imperialism. The fact that the Islamic Revolution had to confront these powers, from the time of its victory up until now, has made the Islamic Revolution strong and has changed it into a big and influential power, both in the region and in the world's equations. Naturally, in the face of a big power like the U.S., one cannot expect to not suffer any harm and to always win. Otherwise, the U.S. would no longer be regarded as a power.
The important point is that in the face of such a big and strong power - firstly, we can neutralize or minimize its blows and conspiracies, and secondly, we can strike it a blow at times.
The fortieth anniversary of the Islamic Revolution and its entry into its second phase proves the Revolution's ability to thwart the Arrogant Power’s conspiracies and the inefficiency of the enemy’s threats in hindering this dynamic and forward-advancing movement. The Islamic Revolution adopted a strategy of active defense, not merely repelling the enemy's plots and conspiracies, but also striking the enemy wherever possible. "Cornered in the Ring" is a term borrowed from boxing and used when the opponent is in an inappropriate, passive position, can be struck, and is dominated by his opponent. In the forty years of hostility and confrontation of the U.S. with the Islamic Revolution, the U.S. was cornered in the ring several times. It is an important fact, which the Supreme Leader pointed out in the meeting on the 12th of Aban, “You can see that the U.S. has taken every possible measure during this time (the past 41 years), especially against the institutions that were established following the Revolution, including the Islamic system itself. They oppose the Islamic system that rose up from the Revolution. They have shown as much animosity as they could. Of course, we were not passive or inactive in responding. We have done all we could to counter the U.S., and in many cases, we managed to corner and debilitate our opponent. The U.S. wasn’t able to defend itself well. This is clear, as the world can see.”
Where was the U.S. cornered?
The U.S.’s confrontation with the Islamic Revolution of Iran can be divided into two domains: domestic and regional.
The blows of the Islamic Revolution to the Arrogant Powers have been in both domestic and regional areas. In other words, sometimes the Islamic Revolution has cornered the U.S. in bilateral confrontations, and other times in regional and multilateral confrontations. This essay, which is not a complete investigation, only refers to the cases where the United States was cornered in bilateral and direct confrontations. The Islamic Revolution itself and its triumph was the first instance when the U.S. was cornered. Other examples of U.S. inaction during the time of Imam Khomeini (r) include: the capture of the spy den in 1979, Imam Khomeini’s (r) refusal to meet Carter’s Special Representative in Nov. 1979, the failure of the Tabas Operation (thanks to the sand that was God’s agent) in May 1980, and the McFarlane affair in 1985 and 1986 that led to Irangate for the Reagan administration. Other examples of when the U.S. was cornered include: refusing to negotiate with the U.S. despite repeated requests from U.S. officials, capturing and landing the Lockheed Martin RQ-170 drone in December 2011, the arrest of U.S. spies, especially the Jason Rezaian affair in 2014 when the U.S. was eventually forced to exchange four prisoners and pay $1.7B (the U.S. delivered $1,700 million in frozen accounts to Iran) to release him, the arrest of ten American marines in January 2016 following an invasion of Iranian waters, the shoot-down of the expensive, technically-advanced American "Global Hawk" espionage drone by the country's Integrated Air Defense System in 2019, and high-level scientific advances despite sanctions and limitations, particularly in defense, air and space, and nuclear areas. The above-mentioned examples are not, of course, all of the same importance. However, if we elaborate on each one of them and its implications for the American superpower, it will be revealed what major blows have been made to U.S. prestige, and how they have accelerated the decline of the U.S.’s power.
