The head of the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological army of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Hossein Salami, said on Saturday (September 19) that Tehran intended to avenge the death of General Ghassem Soleimani by targeting “All those who have been directly or indirectly involved” in its execution.
On September 13, the US news site Politico, citing two unidentified US officials, reported an assassination plot against Lana Marks, the US ambassador to South Africa appointed in October 2019. Retaliation at the death of the general killed in an American raid, and which this American media notes that they were announced a few months before the American presidential election in November.
US President Donald Trump asserted a few days after this publication than “Any attack by Iran, in any form, against the United States will be followed by an attack against Iran which will be a thousand times stronger ”.
… caused over so many years. Any attack by Iran, in any form, against the United States will be met with an attack… https://t.co/pYUvAIuZb4
“Mr. Trump, our revenge for the martyrdom of our great commander is certain, serious and real, but we are respectable and we will take our revenge with fairness and justice”, replied Major General Hossein Salami, head of the Revolutionary Guards, quoted Saturday, September 19 on their official website Sepahnews.
“It’s a serious message”
“You think we would target an ambassador to South Africa for the blood of our martyred brother. We will target all those who were directly or indirectly involved in the martyrdom of this great man. This is a serious message “, he asserted.
Ghassem Soleimani, head of the Quds force – an elite unit in charge of the Revolutionary Guards’ foreign operations – was killed on January 3 by an American airstrike near Baghdad international airport. Iran fired missiles in the following days at US bases and other coalition countries in Iraq.
Relations between Washington and Tehran have been very tense since the Islamic Revolution of 1979 but they worsened with the arrival at the White House of Donald Trump, who unilaterally withdrew the United States in May 2018 from the Vienna agreement on the program. Iran nuclear agreement concluded in 2015 with the major powers.
Washington has again imposed heavy sanctions against Tehran and is working to restore UN sanctions.
