Iranian Brigadier-General Iraj Masjedi, a senior commander in the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, threatened US President-elect Donald Trump in Wednesday’s comments to reporters, calling for Trump to suffer “revenge” and “be prosecuted” for ordering the assassination of Qassem Soleimani.
Soleimani was “a symbol and key figure in the fight against terrorists,” Masjedi said, and “by carrying out this assassination, Trump did the greatest service to the terrorist movement.”
Masjedi’s remarks come two days before the fifth anniversary of the American strike on Soleimani, who served as the chief of the IRGC’s Quds Force.
“The US president assassinated an Iranian saint. A man who was a symbol and a major force in the war on terror,” Masjedi added.
Earlier on Wednesday, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei eulogized the former Quds Force commander in a meeting with families of “martyrs, veterans, and resistance activists,” Iranian state media IRNA reported.
“Martyr Soleimani’s constant strategy was to revive the Resistance Front,” Khamenei reportedly said.
Iran hints openness to nuclear negotiation
Speaking to Tasnim, a semi-official IRGC-affiliated Iranian news outlet, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran would mirror the American stance in potential nuclear talks that may emerge after Trump is sworn in the month.
“If they (the US) take that same path (of pressures) again now, our response will conform to that path too,” Araghchi said. “But if they opt for the course of fair, just and dignified negotiations and speak with the language of respect, we will speak that language as well.”
The Iranian foreign minister added that if the incoming American administration did not opt for the latter route, the Islamic Republic would “continue on our own way [with the nuclear program], just as we have done over the past few years and will continue to do now.”
This article was originally published at www.jpost.com
