IRGC foreign operations’ official, Esmail Qaani, said that his forces partially avenged the assassination of Al-Quds commander, General Qassem Suleimani, by expelling US forces from the region.
“America, Israel and even NATO...are mobilizing to destroy Iran,” Qaani was quoted by Fars news agency as saying, during a meeting with young clerics in Qom.
He added: “America retreats every day and shows signs of decline.”
When asked about the “time of revenge for the blood” of his predecessor, Qassem Suleimani, Qaani pointed to previous statements by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, saying that part of the revenge was “the expulsion of the American forces in the region.”
The former commander of Al-Quds Force was killed by a US strike moments after his arrival at Baghdad airport in early 2020. Suleimani’s killing came months after he obtained the highest military rank from Khamenei because of the role of his forces in the Syria and Iraq war.
Iranian officials have repeatedly threatened to “strongly” avenge the assassination of the senior military official. Those threats targeted former US President Donald Trump, his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and the former US Special Representative for Iran, Brian Hook, in addition to generals in the US army.
In November, the US State Department informed members of Congress that “Iranian threats” against Pompeo and Hook “remain” on US soil. Reports last year noted that providing the two officials with around-the-clock protection would cost more than $2 million a month.
Tehran, which has solid relations with Baghdad, opposes the US military presence on its borders in Iraq and the Gulf, saying that Western military intervention is the main cause of insecurity in the region.
“Iraq should not allow the presence of Americans on its soil, not even one American,” Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said during his meeting with Iraqi President Abdul Latif Jamal Rashid last week.
