Trump says US will retaliate with attacks '1000 times greater' if Iran planned vengeance

On September 14, the US President Donald Trump vowed that the United States would retaliate with attacks “1000 times greater” in magnitude if Iran planned vengeance for the killing of its top general Qasem Soleimani in January 2020. Taking to his official Twitter handle, Trump threatened Iranian leader Hassan Rouhani, saying, that any attack by Iran in any form will be dealt with attacks of tenfold intensity. Trump’s threats came in the backdrop of the reports of an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate the US ambassador to South Africa, Lana Marks. 

Earlier, Iran’s President had warned the US of the consequences of Soleimani’s death, saying, that the Americans weren’t aware of the disaster that they had made. Further, he stated, that the Americans will pay the price for this act, not today, but in time to come. Moreover, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had threatened the US of "harsh revenge waiting" and had observed a 3-day of national mourning after an airstrike ordered by US President Trump assassinated the senior commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, who, he called, an international “face of resistance.” The killing of Iran’s elite Quds Force leader had also since exacerbated tensions between Iran and the US, as only last month, Iran reminded the US that “it isn’t over yet” in state-run media reports. 

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According to a report by the Washington based news broadcaster Politico, Iran was considering assassination attempts on the US ambassador to avenge the killing of Soleimani. The report cited US government officials saying, on condition of anonymity, that the Iranian embassy in the South African city of Pretoria was involved in a plot to assassinate the US ambassador to South Africa. It said that the intelligence about the vengeance for the Iranian military commander’s death “became more specific in recent weeks”. The officials revealed that Marks has been made aware of the threat. According to Politico's report, while the American intelligence community wasn’t sure about why the Iranian leader would target Marks, they speculated her ties with Trump’s family for over 23 years as the reason. 

[Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, center, attends an annual rally commemorating the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution, in Tehran, Iran. Credit: AP]

Key figure to Iranian regime

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC)’s elite Quds Force leader Qassem Soleimani was killed on January 3, 2020, after an airstrike at Baghdad International Airport was instructed by Trump. A key figure to the Iranian regime and an integral driver of Iran’s foreign policy strategy known for the creation of the proxy networks from Lebanon to Iraq to Yemen all across the Middle East, Soleimani was an important leader to Iran. US President Donald Trump, however, called  Soleimani a “monster” and accused him of “planning a big attack” immediately after he was killed by a US drone strike.

"He was a monster. And he's no longer a monster. He's dead," Trump said in an AP report, adding, "he was planning a big attack and bad attack for the US". "I don't think anyone can complain about it,” Trump said. 

Trump accused Soleimani of "travelling with the head of Hezbollah” and killing many. In a statement published by the state-run Iranian Fars news agency, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that "cruelest people on earth (Trump)” assassinated the "honourable" Iranian commander who "courageously fought against evils and bandits of the world."

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