Military Chief: Iran to Continue Strategy of US Expulsion from Region

General Baqeri made the remarks on the third anniversary of Iran’s missile attack on the biggest US troops’ airfield in Iraq named Ain Al-Asad, which came a few days after the martyrdom of Iran’s anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani by the US troops. The Iranian missile attack on the US base was named “Operation Martyr Soleimani.”

“In the morning of January 3, 2020, the US terrorist government martyred the national and Islamic world hero, Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, and a group of his companions in the Resistance Front at the Baghdad airport in a drone attack,” the top Iranian military commander said in his message on the anniversary of the occasion of the missile attack on the US base.

The message further read that this terrorist act took the nation of Iran, the Islamic nations and other nations in the world by surprise that how a government was able to target a guest of the Iraqi government in a drone attack in violation of all legal, political and international rules.

“It was clear that in such a situation, responding to the American terrorist act became the first demand of the Iranian nation, and even the justice-seeking nations, after the martyrdom of Seyed al-Shohda of the Resistance Axis. The armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran also realized this rightful demand and prepared to strike and destroy the US Ain al-Asad Base in Iraq, which was known as one of the planning bases for the assassination of General Soleimani,” he added.

General Baqeri pointed out that therefore, on the morning of January 8, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Air Force destroyed the core in which the assassination had been designed and implemented after firing 13 ballistic missiles.”

“However, this operation was just the beginning of the work” he also noted adding that “The strategy of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Axis of Resistance, as martyr Haj Qasem was trying to achieve, is to expel the American terrorist forces from the region, and this goal will be pursued until it is materialized,” he said.

General Baqeri said that in addition, the Islamic Republic and the Resistance Front still reserve the right to take revenge on the people who directed and perpetrators of the terrorist act, and this case will remain open until the terrorists are punished.

Lieutenant General Soleimani, his Iraqi trenchmate Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s PMU, and ten of their deputies were martyred by an armed drone strike that was directly ordered by the White House as their convoy left Baghdad International Airport in January 2020.

Both commanders were highly revered across the Middle East because of their key role in fighting the Daesh (ISIL or ISIS) Takfiri terrorist group in the region, particularly in Iraq and Syria.

Iranian officials have repeatedly emphasized that Tehran will certainly take revenge from the masterminds and perpetrators of the terror attack on the anti-terror icon. Tehran stresses Americans and Zionists rest assured that it is serious about revenge for the assassination of Martyr Soleimani, and they continue to live under the shadow of Iran’s reprisal since they don’t know when and where they come under attack.

Days later, the the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targeted the US-run Ein Al-Assad in Iraq’s Western province of Al-Anbar by launching a volley of missiles in retaliation. According to the Pentagon, at least 110 American forces suffered “traumatic brain injuries” during the counterstrike on the base. Iran has described the missile attack as a “first slap”.

Iran has asked Interpol to issue a red notice for all perpetrators and masterminds of the assassination of Lieut. Gen. Soleimani. Tehran has also identified dozens of people in connection with the targeted terror attack and that includes former US President Donald Trump, Pentagon officials and American forces in the region. The Iranian Foreign Ministry has also declared sanctions against several persons – including Trump, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former National Security Advisor John Bolton – who have ordered, perpetrated or cooperated in the assassination of Lieutenant General Soleimani.