- Iranian MP Abolfazl Abutorabi threatened to attack White House during open session of parliament Sunday
- 'We can attack the White House itself, we can respond to them on the American soil,' Abutorabi said in session
- MP's threat came after Trump warned that US would hit 52 targets representing victims of Iran hostage crisis
- Iran also threatened to hit 35 American targets in region, including US ships, following top general's death
- Iranian officials and Qassem Soleimani's supporters have vowed vengeance for his death in US strike Friday
- His body was returned to Iran early Sunday to chants of 'Death to America' ahead of a three-day funeral
- Iranians raised the blood-red 'flags of revenge' over the minarets at the revered Jamkaran Mosque
- Thousands of US paratroopers from the 82 Airborne Division continue to deploy to the Middle East
Iran has threatened to attack the White House in response to Donald Trump's warning that any strike on American interests in the region will bring massive retaliation as Iranian leaders brand the president a 'terrorist in a suit'.
'We can attack the White House itself, we can respond to them on the American soil. We have the power, and God willing we will respond in an appropriate time,' said Iranian MP Abolfazl Abutorabi, according to the Iranian Labour News Agency.
Abutorabi went on to say that 'this is a declaration of war, which means if you hesitate you lose'.
'When someone declares war do you want to respond to the bullets with flowers? They will shoot you in the head,' he added.
Abutorabi's threat was made during an open session of parliament in Tehran, Iran, on Sunday, and just days after Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani, the architect of Tehran's overseas clandestine and military operations as head of the Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, was killed on Friday in a US drone strike on his convoy at Baghdad airport.
Following massive funeral marches in Iraq, Soleimani's body was flown to the city of Ahvaz in southwest Iran on Sunday.
Video from the scene shows a casket wrapped in an Iranian flag being unloaded from a plane as a military band plays and the crowd angrily chanted 'Death to America'.
On Saturday, Revolutionary Guards commander Major General Hossein Salami promised 'a strategic revenge which will definitely put an end to the US presence in the region'.
However, Trump threatened to hit 52 critical targets in Iran in retaliation if Tehran strikes any American interests in the region. He upped the stakes after Iran said it had identified 35 targets for potential strikes and raised its red 'flags of revenge' over a key mosque.
'Let this serve as a WARNING that if Iran strikes any Americans, or American assets, we have targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD. The USA wants no more threats!' Trump tweeted on Saturday from Mar-a-Lago, after spending the day at his nearby golf course.
'Iran is talking very boldly about targeting certain USA assets as revenge for our ridding the world of their terrorist leader who had just killed an American, & badly wounded many others, not to mention all of the people he had killed over his lifetime, including recently hundreds of Iranian protesters,' Trump said.
'He was already attacking our Embassy, and preparing for additional hits in other locations. Iran has been nothing but problems for many years,' he continued.
Trump's threat referenced the Iran hostage crisis of 1979-1981, in which 52 US diplomats and citizens were held hostage by student revolutionaries in Iran.
His threat to target sites important to 'Iranian culture' drew many accusations from critics that he was threatening to commit 'war crimes'.
A White House spokesman did not immediately respond to an inquiry about the list of US targets from DailyMail.com.
'They attacked us, & we hit back,' Trump said of the drone strike on Soleimani, which followed assaults on the US embassy in Baghdad by pro-Iranian militiamen.
'If they attack again, which I would strongly advise them not to do, we will hit them harder than they have ever been hit before!' he said.
In a CNN interview, Hossein Dehghan, the military adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, said: 'The response for sure will be military and against military sites.'
'Let me tell you one thing: Our leadership has officially announced that we have never been seeking war and we will not be seeking war,' Dehghan said.
'It was America that has started the war. Therefore, they should accept appropriate reactions to their actions. The only thing that can end this period of war is for the Americans to receive a blow that is equal to the blow they have inflicted. Afterward they should not seek a new cycle,' he added.
Dehghan was referring to Khamenei's statement in May when the supreme leader said Tehran does not seek war with the US.
No comments:
Post a Comment