Any Hostile US Move Will Receive Strong Response

EghtesadOnline: The Iranian government said any hostile measure by the United States against the country will face Tehran's strong response.

News ID: ۷۵۱۰۱۵

16 September 2020

Government Spokesman Ali Rabiei made the statement in response to a tweet by US President Donald Trump in which he threatened Iran of a massive attack in case of an alleged assault on American interests, ISNA reported.

Earlier, a report by an American journal had claimed that Iran is planning to assassinate a US diplomat in South Africa in retaliation for Trump's murder of Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani in Iraq in January. The report had cited two unnamed American officials.

Trump later took to Twitter to defend his decision, describing Soleimani as “a terrorist leader” who was killed "for his planning a future attack, murdering US troops and the death and suffering caused over so many years".

"Any attack by Iran, in any form, against the United States will be met with an attack on Iran that will be 1,000 times greater in magnitude!" he threatened.

Rabiei expressed regret that a president with claims of universality is making statements on such weak grounds.

"This is the Americans' tradition … The US initiated wars in Afghanistan and Iraq with such distorted reports," he said.

He said the news could be aimed at spreading propaganda or strengthening Trump's campaign for the upcoming presidential elections in November.

"Bloodshed or even [negative] sentimental measures for the purpose of winning an election is unforgivable and a betrayal," he said.

While denying such accusations, Iran has announced that it will continue to pursue the case of Major General Soleimani's assassination through international legal channels.

"General Soleimani was a symbol of peace and the fight against terrorism. America assassinated the region's symbol of peace. This shame is not erasable," Rabiei said.

Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps’ Quds Force, who was on a mission in Baghdad, was assassinated along with Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in a US airstrike on their convoy near Baghdad airport.

The attack was carried out on Trump's direct order with the so-called pretext of protecting American personnel overseas.