IRGC Deputy Commander: Resistance Groups Take on US First, Iran Comes Next

“Consequences of the US confrontation against us will be very painful for them,” General Naqdi said in an interview with the state TV on Saturday.

“The revenge will come for sure and the US should not send messages and letters in vain (to dissuade Iran),” he said, adding that the US has mobilized all its friends and allies to ask Iran to refrain from reaction.

General Naqdi said that the revenge will be taken first by the resistance forces in the region whose reaction cannot be controlled by anyone and they decide for themselves, adding that Iran’s retaliation will come in the second phase and the country will certainly take revenge.

“Revenge is the demand of both Iranian and Iraqi nations (but) the Americans do not enjoy the capacity for an extensive military confrontation at all,” he underlined.

“If the Americans want to remain safe, they should dismantle their bases and leave (the region),” General Naqdi said.

Lieutenant General Soleimani was martyred in a targeted assassination attack by the US drones at Baghdad International Airport early on Friday morning.

General Qassem Soleimani has been martyred by the US aircraft after lifetime efforts, the IRGC said in a statement early Friday morning.

The airstrike also martyred Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), or Hashad al-Shaabi. The PMF media arm said the two were martyred in an American airstrike that targeted their vehicle on the road to the airport.

Five Iranian and five Iraqi militaries were martyred by missiles fired by the US drone at Baghdad International Airport.

The Pentagon confirmed the attack in a statement.

The attack came amid tensions that started by the US attack on PMF units that killed 28 Iraqi popular forces. A day later, Iraqi people attacked the US embassy in Baghdad. On Wednesday President Donald Trump ordered about 750 US soldiers deployed to the Middle East.

US officials earlier suggested they were to engage in further retaliatory attacks in Iraq.

The developments also represent a major downturn in Iraq-US relations that could further undermine US influence in the region and American troops in Iraq and weaken Washington’s hand in its pressure campaign against Iran.

US President Donald Trump was vacationing on his estate in Palm Beach, Florida, but sent out a tweet of an American flag.

The attack represents a dramatic escalation by the US toward Iran after months of tensions. The tensions take root in Trump’s decision in May 2018 to withdraw the US from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers, struck under his predecessor.