Top military leaders in Iran blustered Thursday that the Islamic Republic is not cowed by threats from President Trump over the siege of the US Embassy in Baghdad and would “break” American forces if war erupts.
“We are not leading the country to war, but we are not afraid of any war and we tell America to speak correctly with the Iranian nation. We have the power to break them several times over and are not worried,” said Revolutionary Guards Commander Brig. Gen. Hossein Salami, Reuters reported, citing an Iranian news agency.
Iran’s Army chief, Maj. Gen. Abdolrahim Mousavi, said his forces are ready to confront the “enemy.”
“Our armed forces … monitor all moves, and if anyone makes the slightest mistake, they will decisively react, and if the situation heats up, we will show our abilities to the enemy,” state media quoted Mousavi.
The displays of bravado are in response to Trump’s remarks on Tuesday blaming Iran for orchestrating the assault on the US diplomatic compound in Baghdad and promising to hold the regime accountable.
“Iran will be held fully responsible for lives lost, or damage incurred, at any of our facilities. They will pay a very BIG PRICE! This is not a Warning, it is a Threat,” the president wrote on Twitter as Iranian-backed militias tried to storm the embassy.
Speaking later Tuesday before a New Year’s Eve celebration at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Trump said he preferred peace instead of war when asked if Washington and Tehran were barreling toward a conflict.
“I don’t think that would be a good idea for Iran. It wouldn’t last very long. Do I want to? No. I want to have peace. I like peace. And Iran should want peace more than anybody. So I don’t see that happening,” he said.
The attack on the embassy was in response to the US military carrying out airstrikes against five bases of the Iranian-support militia Kataib Hezbollah in Syria and Iraq over the weekend that killed 25 fighters.
The US blamed the group of killing an American contractor and wounding four service members in a rocket attack on a military base in Iraq last Friday.
The siege ended Wednesday after the Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella group of mainly Shiite-aligned militias, called on the protesters to disperse, saying the Iraqi government had “heard their message.”
The Defense Department immediately deployed a detachment of US Marines and two helicopter gunships to bolster forces at the embassy and put thousands more troops on ready to respond to the violence in Baghdad.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiWGh0dHBzOi8vbnlwb3N0LmNvbS8yMDIwLzAxLzAyL2lyYW5zLW1pbGl0YXJ5LWxlYWRlcnMtd2VyZS1ub3QtYWZyYWlkLW9mLXdhci13aXRoLXRoZS11cy_SAVxodHRwczovL255cG9zdC5jb20vMjAyMC8wMS8wMi9pcmFucy1taWxpdGFyeS1sZWFkZXJzLXdlcmUtbm90LWFmcmFpZC1vZi13YXItd2l0aC10aGUtdXMvYW1wLw?oc=5
2020-01-02 14:05:00Z
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