Iran’s Major General Qassem Soleimani said on Thursday that the Red Sea was no longer safe for US vessels, threatening President Donald Trump of launching proxy wars led by Failaq al-Quds against US forces without the interference of Iran’s armed forces.
“You are aware of our power in the region and capability for launching asymmetrical war?” he said.
Speaking from a military base in the suburbs of the Hamdan city, Soleimani was responding to Trump’s tweet addressed to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, in which he threatened the Islamic Republic with actions “the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before.”
“You may begin the war, but it is us who will end it,” the Iranian commander said.
Soleimani described Trump’s threats as being “a cabaret owner” style.
“As a soldier, it is my duty to respond to your threats ... If you want to use the language of threat ... talk to me, not to the president (Hassan Rouhani). It is not in our president’s dignity to respond to you,” Soleimani was quoted as saying by Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency.
He praised Rouhani’s threats against the US and in return, criticized parties inside Iran of undermining the president’s positions.
Rouhani had earlier threatened the US of closing the Hormuz Strait if Washington enforces new sanctions against Iran next November.
Soleimani said liberals in Iran agree on closing all negotiation windows with the US administration.
The commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force addressed Trump several times in his speech.
"We are near you, where you can't even imagine. We are the nation of martyrdom, we are the nation of Imam Hossein, you better ask. Come; we are ready,” Soleimani said.
His speech came after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo threatened that Iranian regime leaders, especially those at the top of the IRGC and the Quds Force like Soleimani, would feel painful consequences of their bad decision-making.
