Harsh response awaits further US action

Tehran, Jan 8, IRNA - Chief of Staff of Iran's presidential office Mahmoud Vaezi said on Wednesday that Iran will give a crushing response to any further US action after Iran’s missile attack to US airbase in Iraq.

“We had warned that assassination of General Soleimani wouldn’t remain unanswered… This important measure was taken as government and people [of Iran] had promised,” Vaezi told reporters after a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

He also expressed condolences on the death of some fellow Iranians in a stampede at the funeral ceremony of General Qassem Soleimani yesterday in Kerman and on the crashing of a Ukrainian airliner with 179 people on board early today.

The official said that last night’s missile attack was the first time an American base was targeted based on his knowledge, describing the attack as ‘a brave action’ that the US was trying to underestimate to relieve its public opinion.

 “Martyr Soleimani was the axis of Resistance and its center of gravity… he has a lot of supports who will do their duties in accordance with their own discretion that legally has nothing to do with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Vaezi said.

Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) targeted the US airbase of Ain al-Assad in Anbar province in western Iraq early on Wednesday in response to the US assassination of the great commander of the IRGC's Quds Force, Lt. Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

Lieutenant General Soleimani and the acting Commander of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), known as the Hashd al-Shaabi, Abu Mahdi Al-Mohandes, along with eight other military forces with record of fighting the Daesh (ISIS) in Iraq were assassinated by the US on Friday.

The Supreme Leader had called for proportionate military action against the US interests in response to heinous crime against Iranian commander who was on a diplomatic mission to Baghdad.