Iran vows ‘hit’ to avenge top general’s killing
TEHRAN, IRAN — The chief of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard threatened Saturday togoafter everyone whohada role in a top general’s January killing during a U.S. drone strike in Iraq.
The guard’s website quoted Gen. Hossein Salami as saying, “Mr. Trump! Our revenge for martyrdom of our great general is obvious, serious and real.”
U. S. President Donald Trump warned this week that Washington would harshly respond to any Iranian attemptstotake revenge for the death ofGen. Qassem Soleimani, tweeting that “if they hit us in any way, any form, written instructions already donewe’re going to hitthem1000 timesharder.”
The president’s warning came in response to a report that Iran was plotting to assassinate the U.S. ambassador to South Africa in retaliation for Soleimani’s killing at Baghdad’s airport
at the beginning of the year.
“We took out the world’s number one terrorist and the massmurderer of American troops andmany, many troops and many people all over theworld,” Trumpsaid. “Qasem Soleimani is dead. He’s dead. Bad guy. Bad guy. Very bad guy.”
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 role in the event will be hit, and this is a serious message. We do prove everything in practice.”
In January, Iran launched a ballistic missile attack targetingU.S. soldiers in Iraq in response to the fatal drone strike.