Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday that Hamas’ attacks on October 7 were “an act of revenge” for the death of Quds Force chief Qasem Soleimani, who was shot by the US military in January 2020.
Soleimani was an Iranian major general of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and commander of the Quds Force – a division mainly responsible for extraterritorial military actions and clandestine operations – from 1998 to 2020 after being killed in a US bombing of the Baghdad airport , capital of Iraq.
Revolutionary Guards spokesman Ramzan Sharif today stressed that “the ‘Al Aqsa flood’ [designação do ataque conduzido pelo Hamas a 7 de outubro] It was one of the revenge attacks for the assassination of Soleimani by the United States and the Zionists [Israel]” and said Tehran “will respond” to the death of a senior Quds Force operative (Brigadier General Razi Moussavi) during Monday’s Israeli bombardment of Syria.
“These revenge attacks will continue at different times and places,” Sharif threatened, emphasizing that Moussavi, killed in Damascus, was “responsible for supporting the Revolutionary Guards in Syria and strengthening the axis of resistance.”
Sharif, quoted by Iran’s Tasnim news agency, stressed that Moussavi “played an important role in preparing resistance fighters in the fight against the Islamic State” and associated his death with the “irreparable defeat suffered by the Zionists during the ‘Al Aqsa Flood’ -operation. “.
“The murder of the martyr Moussavi is the continuation of the violations of international laws by the Zionists,” he denounced, calling on international bodies to take action to “stop this process” because “otherwise international peace and security will be in danger.”
“Iran certainly reserves the right to retaliate. It will be harsh revenge on the Zionists,” Sharif said, warning that the response will be “a combination of direct actions and the resistance front,” referring to Tehran’s allies in the region. .
On the other hand, Sharif explained that the reason why the United States is under attack in the region, especially in Iraq, is that Baghdad, even before the ‘Al Aqsa Flood’ action, approved the withdrawal of the Americans and then carried out operation “the anger of the Iraqis increased”.
“It is important that the United States accept that they have to leave the region because they are blocked,” he said, referring to the latest attacks by pro-Iranian militias in Iraq and Syria against US targets, following the conflict that followed the strikes . of October 7 by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Israel.
The United States responded with on-the-ground actions and bombed militia positions several times, drawing criticism from Baghdad, which called it a “hostile act” and a “violation of its sovereignty” as the country did not authorize these attacks. , which in Monday’s case struck Iraqi military installations.
Sharif also stressed that Israel is “under particular pressure” and argued that the Israeli government wants to “expand the scope of the war and attack other countries” to deal with this situation, following the bombing of Syrian and Lebanese territory against Iranian goals. allies, including the Shiite militia Hezbollah.
As the representative argued, “one of Israel’s strategies” is to turn the conflict with Hamas in the Gaza Strip into a war between Iran and the United States.
‘The supreme leader of the revolution [ayatollah Ali Khamenei] “I have said from the beginning that this operation was a Palestinian action, but the Israelis continue to want to implement this strategy,” he said.
In this context, the head of the Iranian Armed Forces, Mohamad Hosein Baqeri, stated that Israel’s “cowardly attack” on Syrian territory on Monday was “a clear violation of Syrian sovereignty,” which “demonstrates the terrorist nature of this regime.”
“Israel’s criminal leaders, who have not yet recovered from the dizziness caused by the latest events, made a strategic mistake by killing this martyr. [Moussavi]’ he stated, before insisting that ‘the crimes [israelitas] will not go unanswered.”
In a similar vein, Iranian Defense Minister Mohamad Reza Ashtiani stressed that Tehran will make “a decisive response” to Israel, stressing that “the cowardly terrorist act of the defenseless Zionist regime will not go unanswered.”
“At the right time and in the right place, a decisive answer will be given to the Zionist enemy,” he insisted, quoted by Iranian news agency Mehr.
On Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hosein Amirabdolahian threatened Israel with a “hard countdown” on Tehran’s response, while the spokesman of the same government department, Naser Kanani, classified the event as “a terrorist act of aggression,” arguing that “ the cowardly and This heinous act is another sign of the terrorist character of the Zionist regime.”
Source: DN
