With days left for US President Donald Trump to leave the Oval Office, the Islamic Republic of Iran had issued threats to him on Friday.
As per reports, Iranian Judiciary Chief Ebrahim Raisi tried to intimidate the incumbent US President for the assassination of Iran’s top military general Qaseem Soleimani on January 3 last year at the Baghdad airport. He claimed that the killers of Soleimani would ‘not be safe on Earth’ and that Donald Trump was not ‘immune to justice.’
“They will witness severe revenge. What has come so far has only been glimpses…Do not presume that someone, as the president of America, who appeared as a murderer or ordered a murder, maybe immune from justice being carried out. Never. Those who had a role in this assassination and crime will not be safe on Earth,” Raisi remarked at the Tehran University during the first anniversary of Qaseem Soleimani’s death.
Revenge may come from anywhere, threatens successor of Soleimani
Reportedly, several officials from Iran and neighbouring countries of Iraq, Yemen, Syria and Lebanon attended the event. Esmail Ghaani, the successor of Soleimani, also vowed to issue threats, saying that revenge might come from anywhere. “It’s even possible that there are people inside your home [the United States] that will respond to your crime,” he claimed.
At the same time, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Commander, Gen. Hossein Salami, warned, “Today, we have no problem, concern or apprehension toward encountering any powers. We will give our final words to our enemies on the battlefield.” Tensions between the US and Iran flared up after Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal and ordered sanctions against the Islamic country.
Will avenge assasination one day, warns Iranian President
On Thursday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani claimed that the US was ‘definitely harmed’ for killing Soleimani and that Iranians would move on the path of ‘resistance and independence’. He added, “All nations have realized that as long as the Americans are in this region, the region will never see a favourable and desirable [day], and the regional nations, God willing, will cut off the foot of these criminals and aggressors.”
Reiterating that he knew General Soleimani for 40 years and that one day Iran would avenge his assassination one day, he emphasised, “Trump committed many crimes and killed many people, but we will never forget these two cases (including the killing of al-Muhandis).” Rouhani concluded that Soleimani did not hesitate to carry out his ‘national, religious and revolutionary duty’ in the face of US aggression.
Donald Trump warns Iran over US embassy attack in Baghdad
Recently, United States President Donald Trump warned Iran saying he would hold the Islamic Republic accountable “if one American is killed” in rocket attacks in Iraq. Taking to Twitter, President Trump blamed Tehran for the rocket attacks on the American Embassy in Baghdad. After a meeting with senior officials at the White House, President Trump said that Iran was behind rocket attacks on the American Embassy in Baghdad on Sunday.
“Now we hear the chatter of additional attacks against Americans in Iraq,” he added, before offering “some friendly health advice to Iran: if one American is killed, I will hold Iran responsible. Think it over”. Meanwhile, Iran has dismissed the allegations made by the US and responded to US authorities on Monday asking not to provoke “tensions”. Iran Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh condemned the latest rocket attack in a tweet on December 21, refuting US accusations saying that the allegations are being made to create tensions.
The assassination of Qassem Soleimani
The head of Iran’s Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani was killed in the US airstrike at Baghdad’s international airport early on January 3, 2020, a move that has provoked a major escalation in US-Iran tensions. Besides, trench mate Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of Iraq’s Hashd al-Sha’abi were also killed in the drone attack. Iran’s Supreme National Security Council had then issued a statement vowing to retaliate “in the right place and time”. Trump, on the other hand, had claimed that he did not seek war with Iran and the drone attack to eliminate Soleimani was to stop an “imminent” war with the Middle-East country