Tehran will avenge the assassination of Qassem Soleimani by driving the US out of the region, his successor said shortly after another Revolutionary Guard commander warned that dozens of American targets are “within our reach.”
“We promise to continue martyr Soleimani’s path with the same force... and the only compensation for us would be to remove America from the region,” Esmail Qaani said on Monday in an interview to local media ahead of the general’s funeral in Tehran.
Qaani was appointed new leader of the Quds Force – the secretive arm of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) – on January 3. His comments come just days after General Gholamali Abuhamzeh, who heads the IRGC in Iran’s southern Kerman province, said 35 US targets in the region as well as Tel Aviv were identified “long ago” and are “within our reach.”
Washington responded with a similarly-worded message, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo threatening “lawful strikes” targeting “actual decision makers” if any American asset is in danger.
As the war of words escalated, the Pentagon ordered 3,000 troops into the region. Meanwhile, Iraq’s parliament passed a resolution calling for the removal of foreign troops from the country.
Quds Force commander General Soleimani was assassinated in a targeted US drone strike near Baghdad International Airport. His car was hit when local allies from Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) were driving him from the airport. After days of mourning, he will be buried in his hometown, Kerman on Tuesday.
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