4 yıl önce

Iran vows to 'hit' all involved in US killing of Soleimani

General Hossein Salami says Tehran will avenge the death of General Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in a US drone strike earlier this year.

AP

Chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guard General Hossein Salami rejects report of a plot to assassinate US envoy to South Africa Lana Marks.

The chief of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has threatened to go after everyone who had a role in the killing of General Qasem Soleimani in January during a US drone strike in Iraq.

"Mr. Trump! Our revenge for martyrdom of our great general is obvious, serious, and real," the guard's website quoted General Hossein Salami as saying.

Salami rejected the report of an Iranian plot to assassinate Ambassador Lana Marks but made clear that Iran intends to avenge the general's death.

"Do you think we hit a female ambassador in return to our martyred brother?" the general said.

"We will hit those who had direct and indirect roles. You should know that everybody who had a role in the event will be hit, and this is a serious message. We do prove everything in practice."

Trump warns against retaliation

US President Donald Trump ordered the killing of Soleimani in a January 3 drone strike near Baghdad international airport.

Soleimani, a national hero at home and the commander of the elite Quds Force in the Revolutionary Guard, was "the world's top terrorist" and "should have been terminated long ago," Trump said at the time.

This week, Trump warned that Washington would harshly respond to any Iranian attempts to take revenge for the death of Soleimani, tweeting that "if they hit us in any way, any form, written instructions already done we're going to hit them 1000 times harder."

Trump's warning came in response to a report that Iran was plotting to assassinate the US envoy to South Africa in retaliation for Soleimani's killing at Baghdad's airport at the beginning of the year.

2015 nuclear deal

In January, Iran launched a ballistic missile attack targeting US soldiers in Iraq in response to the fatal drone strike.

Trump has stepped up economic pressure on Iran with sanctions since he unilaterally pulled the United States out of Iran's nuclear deal with world powers in 2018.

Tehran has continued to expand its stockpile of enriched uranium and pressured other nations to offset the harm of US sanctions while insisting it does not want to develop a nuclear weapon.

SOURCE: TRTWorld and agencies