Iran's Army Chief-of-Staff warned NATO that stationing Patriot anti-missile batteries on Turkey's border with Syria was setting the stage for world war.

Major General Hassan Firouzabadi, whose country has been a staunch supporter of President Bashar al-Assad throughout the 21-month uprising against his rule, called on the Western military alliance to reverse its decision to deploy the defense system.

“Each one of these Patriots is a black mark on the world map, and is meant to cause a world war,” Firouzabadi said, according to the Iranian Students' News Agency.

“They are making plans for a world war and this is very dangerous for the future of humanity and for the future of Europe itself,” he added.

Despite the warning, Firouzabadi did not threaten any action against Turkey in his speech to Senior Commanders at the National Defence University in Tehran. “We are Turkey's friend and we want security for Turkey,” he said.

NATO's U.S. Commander said on Friday the alliance was deploying the anti-missile system along Syria's northern frontier because Assad's forces had fired Scud missiles that landed near Turkish territory. Damascus denies firing the long-range, Soviet-built rockets.

NATO Military Commander Admiral James Stavridis said a handful of Scud missiles were launched inside Syria in recent days towards opposition targets and “several landed fairly close to the Turkish border, which is very worrisome”.

Batteries of U.S.-made Patriot missiles, designed to shoot down the likes of the Scuds popularly associated with Iraq's 1991 Gulf War under Saddam Hussein, are about to be deployed by the U.S., German and Dutch armies, each of which is sending up to 400 troops to operate and protect the rocket systems.

 

Source: Reuters