Iran says military doctrine shifting from defensive to offensive posture

TEHRAN — Iran’s military doctrine is shifting from a defensive to an offensive posture based on lessons learned from the country’s recent wars, an Iranian army spokesman said Saturday.Brig. Gen. Mohammad Akraminia told state news agency IRNA that the change had gradually emerged during what he described as the 12-day and 40-day wars.“Our country’s military doctrine was defensive in the past, but gradually during these two wars, we witnessed the military doctrine moving from a defensive posture toward an offensive one,” Akraminia said.He stressed that adopting an offensive doctrine did not necessarily mean Iran would conduct preemptive military operations. However, he said Tehran had employed such an approach at one stage of the conflict by striking a US base in Jordan before Washington entered the war.Akraminia claimed the attack caused “serious damage” to US equipment, facilities and personnel.He said Iran’s evolving doctrine also calls for an immediate response to any attack, with retaliatory action potentially exceeding the scale of the initial strike.According to Akraminia, Iran demonstrated the shift during the war through rapid and broader responses to attacks as well as preemptive operations.Akraminia also said the army had developed a reward plan for killing or capturing US troops in the event of a ground incursion into Iranian territory.Under the plan, he said, members of the armed forces or civilians legally possessing hunting weapons would receive 5 billion tomans, or about $26,000, for killing or capturing US troops who entered Iran.The reward would be doubled to 10 billion tomans, or about $53,000, if carried out by a woman, he said.Akraminia added that the army would purchase the weapon used for twice its value and preserve it in a military museum under the owner’s name, while providing the individual with a replacement.Akraminia said the recent merger of the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters with the General Staff of the Armed Forces was intended to make Iran’s military structure more agile and improve unity of command.He said the restructuring would strengthen coordination among the armed forces and enable faster decision-making and responses to threats.