Tehran: Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed ‘severe revenge’ after the United States killed the commander of the Islamic republic’s Quds Force, General Qasem Soleimani, in Baghdad Friday.
“Martyrdom was the reward for his ceaseless efforts in all these years,” Khamenei said on his Farsi-language Twitter account in reference to Soleimani, also declaring three days of mourning.
“With him gone, God willing, his work and his path will not be stopped, but severe revenge awaits the criminals who bloodied their foul hands with his blood and other martyrs’ in last night’s incident,” he added.
Soleimani, head of the elite Quds Force, was killed early Friday in a US air strike on his convoy at Baghdad airport, the Pentagon said. Top Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis was also killed in the attack, a militia spokesman said.
“This strike was aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
AFP
