{"id":10999,"date":"2023-01-25T13:54:29","date_gmt":"2023-01-25T10:54:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/?p=10999"},"modified":"2023-01-26T14:20:46","modified_gmt":"2023-01-26T11:20:46","slug":"amid-anti-government-protests-tehran-says-it-will-avenge-soleimanis-killing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/monitoring-and-translation\/reports\/amid-anti-government-protests-tehran-says-it-will-avenge-soleimanis-killing\/","title":{"rendered":"Amid Anti-government Protests, Tehran Says It Will Avenge Soleimani\u2019s Killing<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Amid  months of anti-government protests<\/a>, Iran said that it will  target US civilian and military officials  to avenge the killing of  the Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani. The commander was targeted by a US drone strike near  Baghdad\u2019s airport on January 3, 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs promised  to hold accountable any country or individual involved in Soleimani\u2019s killing, including the UK, Germany and Israel<\/a>. Some in Iran have called  for Israel’s destruction<\/a> to avenge Soleimani\u2019s killing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran recently published the photos of 51 Americans<\/a> it claims were involved in the drone strike that killed Soleimani, including several current and former senior US officials as well as  US soldiers. Tehran referred to some on the list as \u201cwanted murderers,\u201d and  highlighted  the involvement of  former US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, Blackwater founder Erik Prince, former White House official Victoria Coates, and the names of others in the killing of Soleimani. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Iraq\u2019s pro-Iran Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF)<\/a> planned mass demonstrations on the anniversary of Soleimani\u2019s killing in Baghdad, Basra and even in the Sunni-dominated Saladin Governorate. According to reports, Iraq\u2019s Supreme Judicial Council<\/a> issued an arrest warrant for former US President Donald Trump  as he had ordered Soleimani\u2019s killing  on Iraqi soil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Washington insists  that Soleimani was behind the killing of many Americans in Iraq. But Iran claims that Soleimani defeated the terrorist group ISIS in Iraq. Commemorating the third anniversary of his death, Iran\u2019s hardline  President Ebrahim Raisi said that Soleimani defeated not only \u201cUS hegemony<\/a>\u201d in the Middle East  but also eliminated  ISIS. Soleimani\u2019s successor Esmail Qaani<\/a> indirectly threatened the United States by saying that his death could be avenged on US soil. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Chairman of the Chief of Staff<\/a> of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Bagheri, the Muslim youth  will never give up on avenging Soleimani\u2019s death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Bagheri<\/a> added  that the Soleimani file remains open until those who killed him are punished<\/a>, and that Iran and its PMF militia  have the right to take action in this regard. Zeinab Soleimani<\/a>, the daughter of Soleimani, said that revenge would not just be retaliation but also involve the continuation of her father\u2019s mission. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How soon Iran will avenge Soleimani\u2019s killing is still unknown. The head of the IRGC Hossein Salami<\/a> has promised  that Iran will never give up. Iran insists that revenge will happen sooner or later, but it also seems more set on discouraging  the United States\u2019 hope that by supporting the Iranian protestors, it can accelerate regime change in Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A great deal will also depend on how quickly Iran\u2019s relations with the United States as well as with other Western powers deteriorate.  The West is condemning Iran\u2019s anti-protest crackdowns and its refusal to contain its nuclear program. In response, this year, pro-government protestors gathered in front of  Western embassies<\/a> in Tehran, including the UK and German embassies, and hung large placards vowing to take revenge for Soleimani\u2019s killing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 According to Salami, the  United States should know that the desire for revenge has deep roots  in Iran\u2019s new generation who are willing to embrace martyrdom<\/a>.   According to IRGC Air Force Commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the PMF has grown significantly stronger  over the past three years since Soleimani\u2019s killing, and it will  raise the flag of revenge high until all  US forces leave the Middle East<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iranian defiance is concerning and signals Tehran\u2019s willingness to potentially raise the stakes by threatening US interests and regional security by unleashing its proxies, particularly to deflect attention from its ongoing national uprising.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Amid  months of anti-government protests, Iran said that it will  target US civilian and military officials  to avenge the killing of  the Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani. The commander was targeted by a US drone strike near  Baghdad\u2019s airport on January 3, 2020. Iran\u2019s Ministry of Foreign Affairs promised  to hold accountable any country or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":11000,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,1637,355,386,73,28],"class_list":["post-10999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reports","tag-iran","tag-iran-in-a-week","tag-irgc","tag-khamenei","tag-press","tag-tehran"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10999"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10999\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11001,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10999\/revisions\/11001"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}