Rouhani hails revenge attack on terrorists in Syria, warns of more action

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has praised the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) for taking befitting revenge for a terrorist attack in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, saying the Islamic Republic will give a crushing and firm response to any act of aggression or terror.

“The world should know that we regard masterminds and instigators of terrorist [attacks] as terror perpetrators and as terrorist agents are condemned and we deal with them, the planners are condemned too, and we will confront them and they are doomed to failure,” Rouhani said during a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

The IRGC said on Monday that it had hit the gatherings of the ringleaders of the recent terror attack in Ahvaz with several surface-to-surface ballistic missiles in an area to the east of the river Euphrates, near Albu Kamal town on Syria’s eastern border with Iraq.

The operation, dubbed The Muharram Strike, saw the IRGC’s Aerospace Force fire a total of “six medium-range ballistic missiles” from western Iran at targets 570 kilometers (355 miles) away, it said.

The IRGC said the attack was a response to the “cowardly” act of terror during a military parade in Ahvaz on September 22, which killed 25 people and injured 69 others.

Rouhani said in the cabinet meeting that the fact that the Islamic Republic of Iran “firmly, accurately and in a short time targets the [commanding] center of terrorists indicates that if the low-ranking agents of a terrorist group in Iran do something, then we will be targeting the architects, the main group and their commanding center.”

On the sidelines of the cabinet meeting, Iran’s Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami also hailed the IRGC’s missile attack on positions of terrorists in eastern Syria and warned those who might think about targeting Iran.

“Those who might take a measure against the security of the Iranian nation should await a harsh, crushing response,” General Hatami said.

On his visit to New York to attend the 73^rd UN General Assembly meeting, Rouhani said the recently held UNGA was the scene of his country’s diplomatic success and the US’s isolation.

“This time the US was isolated more than ever and Iran was respected by the world public opinion and politicians more than any time due to its correct and accurate behavior,” he said.

Rouhani added that “the world public opinion now supports Iran and even in the United States, many politicians and ordinary people believe that Iran is on the right track and they do not favor the US government’s measures.”

He said the US measures in the economic sector have harmed all European countries, Iran and even Washington itself, referring to the US’s re-imposition of sanctions following its withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Rouhani said the “overwhelming majority of countries supported the JCPOA and appreciated the efforts of the Islamic Republic of Iran to maintain the agreement, and most countries condemned US sanctions against Iran and considered it illegal.”

Rouhani also praised a “big step” by Europe to form a special body toward maintaining businesses with Iran after the new US unilateral sanctions on Tehran.

He, however, said that Iran expected more practical measures to protect the JCPOA and benefit from it, including perfectly normal economic ties.

US President Donald Trump announced in May that Washington was pulling out of JCPOA, which lifted nuclear-related sanctions against Tehran in exchange for restrictions on Tehran’s nuclear program.

The US administration reintroduced the previous sanctions while imposing new ones on the Islamic Republic. It also introduced punitive measures — known as secondary sanctions — against third countries doing business with Iran.