The head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Saturday that Tehran would only avenge the death of US Supreme Commander General Qasim Soleimani by targeting those involved in "honorable" retaliation.
Soleimani,
who heads the Guards Elite Codes force, was killed’ in a US airstrike near
Baghdad airport in January.
The US
media report quotes unnamed officials as saying that Iran intends to retaliate
against the assassination of US Ambassador to South Africa Lana Marks before
the November presidential election.
Following
the report, US President Donald Trump threatened Iran with a "thousand
times stronger" response to any attack on his country later this week.
South
Africa's state security agency said on Friday it had found no evidence of such
a conspiracy against Marx.
Major
General Hussein Salami, Chief of the Guards, responded to the US President.
"Mr.
Trump, our revenge for the martyrdom of our great commander is certain, serious
and real, but we are respectful and seek revenge with justice and
fairness," he was quoted as saying by the Guard's official website, Sepah
News.
"Do
you think we will attack the female ambassador to South Africa for the blood of
our martyred brother? We will target those who were directly or indirectly
involved in the martyrdom of this great man," he said.
"You
should know that we will target anyone involved ... and that's a serious
message."
Suleimani,
along with a senior Iraqi commander, were killed’ in the drone strike. Abu
Mahdi Al-Mahandis.
A few
days later, Iran fired a barrage of missiles at Iraqi strongholds of US and
other allied troops, but Trump refrained from further military action.
Relations
between Washington and Tehran have been strained’ since the 1979 Islamic
Revolution.
They have
deteriorated sharply since Trump unilaterally withdrew from a major
international nuclear deal with Iran in May 2018 and imposed sanctions.
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