Tehran, Iran – The head of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard threatened Saturday to go after all those who participated in the assassination of a prominent general in a January US drone strike in Iraq.
“Mr. Trump! Our revenge for the martyrdom of our great general is obvious, serious and real “General Hossein Salami said, as quoted by the Guard’s website.
US President Donald Trump warned this week that Washington will respond harshly to any Iranian attempt to avenge the death of Qassem Soleimani, tweeting that “If they hit us in any way, in any way, the written instructions are ready and we are going to hit them 1,000 times harder”.
Trump’s warning came in response to a report that Iran was planning to assassinate the US ambassador to South Africa in retaliation for Soleimani’s killing at the Baghdad airport earlier this year.
Salami denied that there is an Iranian plot to assassinate Lana Marks, but made it clear that Tehran intends to avenge the general’s death.
“Do you think we are going to beat an ambassador in exchange for our martyr brother?” Said the general. “We will hit those who had direct and indirect roles. They should know that everyone who had something to do with the event will be attacked and this is a serious message. We show it all in practice ”.
In January, Iran launched a ballistic missile attack on US soldiers in Iraq in response to the deadly drone strike.
Trump has redoubled economic pressure on Iran with sanctions since the United States unilaterally withdrew in 2018 from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, a nuclear deal with world powers, signed in Vienna in July 2015.
Tehran has continued to expand its enriched uranium arsenal and lobbied other nations to offset the damage of US sanctions while insisting it does not want to develop a nuclear weapon.
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