TEHRAN (Mehr News Agency) – "The United States can not tolerate independent, free, and democratically elected states," the commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), Major General Rahim Safavi, said on Tuesday.

Safavi who was speaking at a gathering of IRGC forces and Basijis (volunteer forces) in Urumia, West Azarbaijan Province, also noted that the U.S. occupation of Iraq was doomed to failure because it was now facing serious and increasing problems in that country.

"Due to the heavy casualties incurred upon them and failing to succeed in their objectives in Iraq, the British forces, too, are quietly pulling out of that country," the IRGC commander went on to say.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Safavi said that the IRGC and Basiji forces provide strong defense and security for the country and are bulwarks of defense and security for the state and the nation.

Refuting U.S. officials' claim that they attacked Iraq to overthrow an evil regime and establish a government which could serve as an example to regional states, he said that the occupation was actually an intervention into the internal affairs of regional countries.

Safavi added that the vigilant Iranian nation and its officials will resist and neutralize any plot. He also stressed the need to increase Basiji participation in the nation's cultural affairs as well as in national reconstruction projects.