http://fna.ir/dec4pbSat Jan 04, 2020 7:22
EC Secretary: Iran’s Right to Retaliate Enshrined in UN Charter
TEHRAN (FNA)- Secretary of Iran's Expediency Council (EC) Mohsen Rezayee reiterated that his country’s right to take revenge on the US for the assassination of Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Quds Force Commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani is enshrined in the United Nations Charter, adding that Tehran will never surrender in the face of Washington’s pressures.
In a televised interview late on Friday, Rezayee said “We will give a decisive response for two reasons: first, it is our right to defend ourselves according to the UN Charter. And second, any nation that gives in will meet a terrible fate.”
Stressing that Iran’s revenge will be harsh, he described Trump’s order to assassinate General Soleimani as a “political and military suicide. The US made a huge risk.”
“Even now after the assassination, Mr. Trump says he is not seeking war. Well, he doesn’t have what it takes to start a war. History, too, will prove that he wasn’t capable of war,” Rezayee noted.
Discussing Trump’s motives for the assassination, he said, “There are several possible motives. One, the Americans were humiliated after repeated failures in the region. Two, Trump needed a ‘heroic’ act for winning the election. Three, he wanted a way out of impeachment. And four, the Israeli regime and Saudi Arabia pressured Trump into doing it.”
“After this incident, pressure will increase on the US. We predict that the Americans will leave the region,” he added.
Lieutenant General Soleimani, the hero of anti-terrorism fight in the Middle East, was martyred in a targeted assassination attack by the US aircraft at Baghdad International Airport early Friday morning. The airstrike also martyred Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), or Hashad al-Shabi. The PMF media arm reported that the two were martyred in an American airstrike that targeted their vehicle on the road to the airport.
"General Qassem Soleimani has been martyred by the US helicopters after lifetime efforts," the IRGC said in a statement early Friday morning.
A PMF official said 10 people were martyred by missiles fired by the US helicopters at Baghdad International Airport.
He said the dead included the PMF airport protocol officer, Mohammed Reda.
The central HQ of IRGC’s Qods Force issued a statement on Friday, recounting that during the terrorist attack of Americans, 10 people were martyred, out of them 5 were Iranian, including Lieutenant General Soleimani, and 5 of them were Iraqi, including Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
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.
