Iran Guards commander says death of all US leaders would not avenge Soleimani killing

DUBAI: The killing of all American leaders would not be enough to avenge the US assassination of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ top commander Qassem Soleimani two years ago, a senior Iranian Guards commander said on Wednesday.

The United States and Iran came close to full-blown conflict in 2020 after Soleimani’s killing in a US drone attack at Baghdad airport and Tehran’s retaliation by attacking US bases in Iraq.

“Martyr Soleimani was such a great character that if all American leaders are killed, this will still not avenge his assassination,” senior commander of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Mohammad Pakpour was quoted as saying by Iranian state media.

“We should avenge him by following Soleimani’s path and through other methods.”

Then-US President Donald Trump’s administration said Soleimani was targeted for plotting future attacks on US interests and that he had helped coordinate strikes on American forces in Iraq in the past through militia proxies.

Pakpour’s comments came days after US Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that he does not support removing Iran’s Quds Force, an arm of its Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), from a list of foreign terrorist organizations, as demanded by Tehran for the revival of a 2015 nuclear deal.