DUBAI, Feb 13 (Reuters) – Iran is ready to strike the United States and Israel if they give it any reason to do so, the head of the elite Revolutionary Guards said in a live broadcast on state television on Thursday.
“If you make the slightest error, we will hit both of you,” Major General Hossein Salami said in a speech at a ceremony marking the 40th day since the death of top commander Qassem Soleimani.
Soleimani, who was head of the Quds Force, a branch of the Guards responsible for operations outside Iran, was killed by a U.S. drone in Baghdad on Jan. 3 along with Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
[aesop_image img=”https://kayhanlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/2019-06-20T091358Z_1_LWD00164N2GQV_RTRWNEV_E_4154-MIDEAST-IRAN-IRGC-1.jpg” panorama=”off” credit=”Hossein Salami. REUTERS ” align=”center” lightbox=”off” captionsrc=”custom” captionposition=”left” revealfx=”off” overlay_revealfx=”off”]
The killing of Soleimani will lead to the liberation of Jerusalem, the spokesman for the Revolutionary Guards said earlier, according to the Tasnim news agency.
“The cowardly and craven assassination of commander Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis by the Americans will lead to the liberation of Jerusalem, by the grace of God,” Ramezan Sharif said.
Iran‘s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said last week that Iran would support Palestinian armed groups as much as it could and urged Palestinians to confront a U.S. plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced a plan that would set up a Palestinian state with strict conditions but allow Israel to take over long-contested Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. Palestinian leaders reject it as biased towards Israel.
Separately, Soleimani urged Iranians to support Khamenei and said political factions should put aside their differences. He made the call in his will, which was read by the new Quds Force chief, Brigadier General Esmail Ghaani, at a ceremony in Tehran.
[aesop_image img=”https://kayhanlife.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/2020-01-09T000000Z_1218818079_MT1ABCPR715274002_RTRMADP_3_ABACA-PRESS-scaled.jpg” panorama=”off” credit=”FILE PHOTO: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei shows him and the newly-appointed commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Esmail Qaani (R) during a mourning ceremony in Tehran for slain top general Qasem Soleimani,Tehran, Iran on January 9, 2020. REUTERS./” align=”center” lightbox=”off” captionsrc=”custom” captionposition=”left” revealfx=”off” overlay_revealfx=”off”]
(Reporting by Babak Dehghanpisheh; Editing by Giles Elgood)
