Iran slams US threat to new commander of Quds Forces

TEHRAN

A U.S. envoy’s threat to assassinate the new leader of Iran’s Quds Force was condemned Thursday by a spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

“The remarks by this State Department official are an official publicizing and blatant unveiling of targeted and state terrorism by the United States,” Abbas Mousavi said in a statement.

“Now, after the Zionist regime [of Israel], the US is the second regime to officially announce that it has employed the resources of its government and armed forces for terrorist acts and that it will continue them in the future,” he added.

Mousavi’s remarks came after a published interview with Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat newspaper in which U.S. Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook threatened to kill Lt. Gen. Esmail Qaani, the successor of the late Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike earlier this month.

Hook said “If [Qaani] follows a similar path of killing Americans, he will meet the same fate, because the President has made clear for years that any attacks against American Personnel or interests in the region will be met with a decisive response, and the President demonstrated that on January 2nd. So this is not a new threat.”

Qaani was appointed new leader of the Quds Force after Soleimani was killed in Iraq on Jan. 3.

*Writing by Havva Kara Aydin