Iran Vows ‘Forceful Revenge’ After U.S. Kills General
Iran Vows ‘Forceful Revenge’ After U.S. Kills General
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, promised retaliation against those who killed Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani in Baghdad.
Iranian leaders issued strident calls on Friday for revenge against the United States after the killing of Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani in an overnight airstrike at the Baghdad airport.
His death is a considerable blow to Tehran, and Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called for retaliation and for three days of national mourning.
“His departure to God does not end his path or his mission, but a forceful revenge awaits the criminals who have his blood and the blood of the other martyrs last night on their hands,” the supreme leader said in a statement.
Iran’s security body also pledged to avenge General Suleimani’s killing in the “right place and time,” saying it had reached a decision on how to do so.
The American strike spurred mass displays of public mourning by Iran and its network of allies across the Middle East.
General Suleimani, a powerful strategist who represented Iran’s influence across the region, was killed by an American drone at Baghdad airport, in an attack that had been authorized by President Trump and that ratcheted up tensions between Washington and Tehran.
The strike, regarded by analysts as perhaps the riskiest American move in the Middle East since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, threatened to tip hostilities with the United States and its partners across the region into a new war.
—
Read more at: New York Times
Iran Briefing | News Press Focus on Human Rights Violation by IRGC, Iran Human Rights