Ex-IRGC Commander:

Iran Only Soothed by US Withdrawal from Region

TEHRAN (defapress)- Former Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps and Secretary of Iran’s Expediency Council (EC) Mohsen Rezayee said that his country's efforts will continue tirelessly to expel all US troops from the region in revenge for the assassination of ex-IRGC Quds Force Commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani.

News ID: 82084

Date: 22 September 2020 - 13:02

“The enemies should know that the thought of harsh revenge which started from the US’ most modern military base (Ein al-Assad) will continue until their expulsion from the region,” Rezayee said, addressing a ceremony in the Southern city of Ahvaz on Monday afternoon.

He said that normalization of Israel’s ties with a number of puppet Arab regimes in the region cannot prevent the awakening of the Islamic nations, and rather will accelerate the Arab and Islamic revolutions, and warned enemies of the day when the US warships with 5,000 crews will be seized.

“When the US fully leaves, full tranquility will be established in the region and we will see that day,” Rezayee said.

In relevant remarks on Saturday, Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Major General Hossein Salami warned that Iran is resolved to retaliate for the US assassination of General Soleimani, and said that all collaborators in the terrorist act are potential targets.

“Mr. Trump, Do not doubt about our revenge because it is completely destined and serious,” General Salami said, addressing IRGC commanders and officials in Tehran.

Iran will take revenge in a fair manner, he added, noting, “This is why we did not target your soldiers at Ein al Assad.”

“We will target those who have had a direct or indirect role in the martyrdom of Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani,” General Salami said.

“Do you think that we will target a female ambassador in ransom for the blood of our martyr,” asked Salami, referring to US media allegations that Iran had plotted to assassinate US ambassador to South Africa in revenge for the assassination of General Soleimani.

“Americans should know that we will target anyone who has had a role in the cowardly assassination of General Soleimani and this is a serious warning,” he said.

“You are threatening us with an attack 1000-times greater in force, while being stranded in your internal problems, but when we targeted Ain al Asad, we were assuming that you would respond and had then made hundreds of missiles ready to destroy targets in case you would respond,” General Salami said.

He underlined that the US is given a crushing retaliation if it even damages “one hair” of an Iranian national.

“These are serious warnings. We do not engage in a war of words, but we leave everything to the field of action,” General Salami said.

He added that today the US has lost its past military power and has been isolated in the world.

Also, last Tuesday, Iranian Government Spokesman Ali Rabiyee said the US has made the biggest strategic mistake by assassinating General Soleimani, and underlined once again that Tehran will give a strong response to the terror attack.

“The assassination of our martyred General who was the General of peace in the region and symbol of fight against terrorism is a stain (on the face of the US) that cannot be cleaned,” Rabiyee told reporters in a press conference in Tehran.

He referred to the recent remarks by US President Donald Trump on his twitter page that has threatened to strike Iran “1000 times greater in magnitude” following a false report of the American media on alleged Iran plan to assassinate a US diplomat, and said, “I regret that the president of a country which claims to be able to manage the world and establish global order makes rapid, ordered and distorted opinion based on such a weak basis.”

“The US has made its biggest strategic mistake and it cannot conceal its crime through such moves. Anyway, any strategic mistake by the US will face Iran’s firm response,” Rabiyee said.

Iran last week strongly rejected a report released by the US media claiming that the country was weighing plans to kill the American ambassador to South Africa to take revenge for Washington’s assassination of General Soleimeni.

“Such baseless remarks are part of the Trump administration’s counter-intelligence campaign against Iran. The US regime’s resort to allegations and lies against Iran on the threshold of the US presidential election and concurrent with its pressures to use the UN Security Council mechanisms with the aim of increasing pressure on the Iranian nation was predictable,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said.

He also blasted the US media for releasing an ordered, biased and targeted report against Iran, advising the American officials to give up resorting to repeated and worn-out methods to spread an anti-Iran atmosphere on the international scene.

Khatibzadeh described Iran as a responsible member of the international society which has proved its commitment to the international diplomatic principles and norms, saying that it is the US and the current regime in the White House that has implemented tens of assassination plots and military interventions in other countries in recent years, an instance of which was the assassination of General Soleimani in Iraq.

“As repeatedly said before, the Islamic Republic of Iran will continue legally pursuing the criminal and cowardly assassination of General Soleimani internationally at all levels and will neither forgive nor forget the terrorist act,” he stressed.

His remarks came in response to a report by Politico citing the US officials as claiming that the “Iranian government is weighing an assassination attempt against the American ambassador to South Africa” in retaliation for the assassination of General Soleimeni.

Meantime, a spokesman for South Africa’s Foreign Ministry said the US official’s allegation took Pretoria by surprise.

“We only became aware of this report this morning,” Lunga Ngqengelele said by phone on Monday.

Department of International Relations and Cooperation Minister Naledi Pandor may issue a statement later, he added.

Lieutenant General Soleimani was assassinated in a US drone strike on Baghdad International Airport in Iraq on January 3.

The airstrike also martyred Deputy Commander of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. The two were martyred in an American airstrike that targeted their vehicle on the road to the airport.

Five Iranian and five Iraqi military men were martyred by the missiles fired by the US drone at Baghdad International Airport.

On January 8, the IRGC Aerospace Force started heavy ballistic missile attacks on US Ein Al-Assad airbase in Southwestern Iraq near the border with Syria and a US operated airbase in Erbil in retaliation for the US assassination of General Soleimani.

Ein Al-Assad is an airbase with a 4km runway at 188m altitude from sea levels, which is the main and the largest US airbase in Iraq. Early reports said the radar systems and missile defense shields in Ein Al-Assad failed to operate and intercept the Iranian missiles. Unofficial reports said the US army's central radar systems at Ein Al-Assad had been jammed by electronic warfare.

The second IRGC reprisal attack targeted a US military base near Erbil airport in Iraqi Kurdistan Region in the second leg of "Martyr Soleimani" reprisal operation.

Iraq said the attacks had not taken any toll from its army men stationed at these two bases. The US army had blocked entrance into Ein Al-Assad to everyone, including the Iraqi army.

It was the first direct attack on the US army ever since world war two.

The IRGC officials said none of the missiles had been intercepted.

Meantime, Iran announced in late June that it had issued arrest warrants for 36 officials of the US and other countries who have been involved in the assassination of the martyred General Soleimani.

"36 individuals who have been involved or ordered the assassination of Hajj Qassem, including the political and military officials of the US and other governments, have been identified and arrest warrants have been issued for them by the judiciary officials and red alerts have also been issued for them via the Interpol," Prosecutor-General of Tehran Ali Alqasi Mehr said.

He said that the prosecuted individuals are accused of murder and terrorist action, adding that US President Donald Trump stands at the top of the list and will be prosecuted as soon as he stands down presidency after his term ends.

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