AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Russia strongly criticized the US for threatening to assassinate the new commander of the Qods Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), General Esmail Qa’ani, saying that such remarks are against the international laws and regulations.
Moscow’s reaction came after US Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook said on Thursday that General Esmail Qa’ani could face the fate of his predecessor, General Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated on January 3.
“I state once again that such statements are unacceptable for us as such remarks have been made beyond rights and law, and representatives of world states are not entitled to utter them,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.
She urged the US officials to be more careful while making remarks at official occasions.
Lieutenant General Soleimani was assassinated in a US drone strike on Baghdad International Airport in Iraq on January 3.
The airstrike also martyred Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), or Hashd al-Shaabi. The two were martyred in an American airstrike that targeted their vehicle on the road to the airport.
Five Iranian and five Iraqi militaries were martyred by missiles fired by the US drone at Baghdad International Airport.
In relevant remarks on Thursday, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Abbas Mousavi underlined that the new threats by the US to assassinate the new commander of the IRGC’s Qods Force displays the US’ state terrorism.
“After the Zionist regime, the US is the second regime that has officially announced it will utilize the state potential as well as the military forces to launch terrorist attacks,” Mousavi said.
“The US has resorted to the terrorist moves proving its weakness, despair, and frustration,” he added.
The Iranian foreign ministry spokesman reiterated that the remarks by Hook are an official publicizing and blatant unveiling of targeted and state terrorism by the United States.
Mousavi condemned “brazen remarks and terrorist acts” by US leaders, and called on the international community to also condemn such acts "because the continuation of this trend would sooner or later befall everyone”.
In relevant remarks on Wednesday, Mousavi announced that the country has filed a complaint with the UN against Washington for assassination of General Soleimani.
“The US terrorist assassination of Martyr Soleimani was unprecedented both in the region and the world which prompted reaction of jurists, lawyers, politicians, journalists and thinkers throughout the world,” Mousavi said.
“In our first reaction to the US assassination of Iran’s top commander Gen. Soleimani, we penned a letter to the UN and lodged a complaint against the US assassination of Lt. Gen. Soleimani as a terrorist act. Also, we filed a lawsuit against perpetrators of this terrorist act in cooperation and collaboration with the judiciary branch,” he said.
Mousavi pointed to the clear violation of Article 3314 of the UN Charter by the United States, and said, “According to the military agreement, if any military move is conducted against the provisions of the agreement in the host country, the guest country is considered as an aggressor, based on which, Iraqi government can lodge its complaint against the United States from this perspective.”
He termed the US assassination of Gen. Soleimani in Iraq, who played a very constructive role in the fight against terrorism, "a vicious and cowardly act", and said, “Gen. Soleimani was assassinated by the US terrorist forces in Iraq in a cowardly manner as he had been invited by the Iraqi prime minister. So, the US terrorist act in assassinating Gen. Soleimani has both international criminal and penal aspects.”
On January 8, the IRGC Aerospace Force started heavy ballistic missile attacks on US Ein Al-Assad airbase in Southwestern Iraq near the border with Syria and a US operated airbase in Erbil in retaliation for the US assassination of General Soleimani.
Ein Al-Assad is an airbase with a 4km runway at 188m altitude from sea levels, which is the main and the largest US airbase in Iraq. Early reports said the radar systems and missile defense shields in Ein Al-Assad failed to operate and intercept the Iranian missiles. Unofficial reports said the US army's central radar systems at Ein Al-Assad had been jammed by electronic warfare.
The second IRGC reprisal attack targeted a US military base near Erbil airport in Iraqi Kurdistan Region in the second leg of "Martyr Soleimani" reprisal operation.
Iraq said the attacks had not taken any toll from its army men stationed at these two bases. The US army had blocked entrance into Ein Al-Assad to everyone, including the Iraqi army.
It was the first direct attack on the US army ever since world war two.
The IRGC officials said none of the missiles had been intercepted.
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source : FNA
Friday
24 January 2020
1:44:03 PM
1004997
Russia strongly criticizes US threat of assassinating Iran’s new IRGC Qods Force commander
Russia strongly criticized the US for threatening to assassinate the new commander of the Qods Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), General Esmail Qa’ani, saying that such remarks are against the international laws and regulations.