عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

Iran's Qaani Vows Revenge for Soleimani's Killing

Quds Force Commander Esmail Qaani speaks at a conference in Tehran on Tuesday. (Tasnim)
Quds Force Commander Esmail Qaani speaks at a conference in Tehran on Tuesday. (Tasnim)
    London, Tehran - Asharq Al-Awsat
TT
20
TT

Iran's Qaani Vows Revenge for Soleimani's Killing

Quds Force Commander Esmail Qaani speaks at a conference in Tehran on Tuesday. (Tasnim)
Quds Force Commander Esmail Qaani speaks at a conference in Tehran on Tuesday. (Tasnim)

Commander of Iran’s Quds Force, Esmail Qaani, has threatened the US of staging “fundamental” revenge in the cleric-led country’s own “style” to avenge the death of his predecessor, Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a US drone strike ordered by former President Donald Trump.

Qaani’s remarks were made at an event organized by the Quds Force, the foreign arm of the Revolutionary Guard. Held on Tuesday, the event marked the anniversary of the deaths of Quds Force members in Syria and Iraq under the slogan “Soleimani’s Comrades.”

The ceremony overlaps with Iran commemorating the second anniversary of Soleimani’s killing near Baghdad airport in January 2020.

“There will be fundamental revenge. We are not criminals, but we have our own style,” said Qaani in his address to the attendees.

“The enemy thinks the deed is done,” he added, revealing that Mike Pompeo, the former United States secretary of state, was the “most abhorred individual by Soleimani.”

“They thought that their contempt would end... Do you think that you would strike and it’s over?... The nation and the free people of the world will take revenge on you in a way that you will never forget,” threatened Qaani.

He referred to the decline of the US forces in Iraq from 150,000 to 2,500, and said: “Your departure from the region was one of the goals, but more than the American exit ... You were expelled.”

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi has said Trump must face justice for his role in Soleimani's killing, or else Iran will have revenge.

Raisi called for the formation of a “fair court” in which Trump, Pompeo and other American officials are sentenced and punished.

Most Viewed

 
World

Chinese Ship Runs Aground Off Philippines-occupied Island in Disputed South China Sea

Philippine marines board rubber boats at the Philippine-occupied Thitu island, locally called Pag-asa island in the disputed South China Sea on Wednesday June 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Jim Gomez)
Philippine marines board rubber boats at the Philippine-occupied Thitu island, locally called Pag-asa island in the disputed South China Sea on Wednesday June 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Jim Gomez)
TT
20
TT

Chinese Ship Runs Aground Off Philippines-occupied Island in Disputed South China Sea

Philippine marines board rubber boats at the Philippine-occupied Thitu island, locally called Pag-asa island in the disputed South China Sea on Wednesday June 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Jim Gomez)
Philippine marines board rubber boats at the Philippine-occupied Thitu island, locally called Pag-asa island in the disputed South China Sea on Wednesday June 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Jim Gomez)

A Chinese ship ran aground in stormy weather in shallow waters off a Philippines-occupied island in the disputed South China Sea, prompting Filipino forces to go on alert, Philippine military officials said Sunday.

When Filipino forces assessed that the Chinese fishing vessel appeared to have run aground in the shallows east of Thitu Island on Saturday because of bad weather, Philippine military and coast guard personnel deployed to provide help but later saw that the ship had been extricated, regional navy spokesperson Ellaine Rose Collado said.

No other details were immediately available, including if there were injuries among the crewmembers or if the ship was damaged, Collado said.

Confrontations have spiked between Chinese and Philippine coast guard and navy ships in the disputed waters in recent years.

"The alertness of our troops is always there,” Col. Xerxes Trinidad of the Armed Forces of the Philippines told reporters. But when they saw that a probable accident had happened, “we tried to provide assistance as professionals” in accordance with international law on helping distressed vessels at sea.

"We’re always following international law,” Trinidad said.

Filipino villagers living in a fishing village on Thitu, which they call Pagasa island, immediately informed the Philippine military and coast guard after seeing the Chinese ship lying in the shallows about 1.5 nautical miles (2.7 kilometers) from their village, said MP Albayda, a local Filipino official, told The Associated Press.

“They got worried because the Chinese were so close but it was really the strong wind and waves that caused the ship to run aground," said Albayda, adding that other Chinese ships pulled the stricken vessel away.

The stricken ship resembled what the Philippine military had repeatedly said were suspected Chinese militia ships, which had backed the Chinese coast guard and navy in blocking and harassing Philippine coast guard and military vessels in the disputed waters, a busy conduit for global trade and commerce.

Thitu Island is home to a Philippine fishing village and Filipino forces and is the largest of nine islands and islets occupied by the Philippines. It lies about 26 kilometers (16 miles) from Subi Reef, which China transformed into an island base along with six other barren reefs to reinforce its claim to virtually the entire South China Sea.

Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan are also involved in the long-simmering territorial standoffs, an Asian flashpoint that many fear could pit China and the United States in a major conflict.

The US does not lay any claim to the South China Sea but has repeatedly warned that it's obligated to defend the Philippines, it's longtime treaty ally, if Filipino forces, ships and aircraft come under an armed attack, including in the South China Sea.