Zarif: Gen. Soleimani’s Assassination to Strengthen Resistance Movement

By Staff, Agencies

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has strongly condemned US assassination of IRGC Quds Force Commander Major General Qassem Soleimani, saying it will strengthen the resistance movement across the world.

“The malice and stupidity of the terrorist American forces in assassinating General Soleimani, the hero and commander of fight against terrorism and extremism, will undoubtedly make stronger the tree of resistance in the region and the world,” Zarif said in a Friday statement.

The top diplomat said Foreign Ministry will use its political, legal, and international capacities to implement decisions made by Iran's Supreme National Security Council in order to hold the criminal and terrorism regime of the US accountable for this blatant crime.

Zarif had earlier tweeted that “the US' act of international terrorism, targeting & assassinating General Soleimani – THE most effective force fighting Daesh [ISIS], al-Nusra, al-Qaeda et al – is extremely dangerous & a foolish escalation.”

“The US bears responsibility for all consequences of its rogue adventurism,” Zarif warned.

The comments came after Major General Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Units [PMU], were assassinated in US airstrikes in the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

The IRGC announced in a statement on Friday morning that Major General Soleimani and al-Muhandis were martyred in the attack carried out by US helicopters.

The Iraqi pro-government group also confirmed the incident.

"The deputy head of the Hashed, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, and head of the Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani, were killed in a US strike that targeted their car on the Baghdad International Airport road," it said in a statement.

"The American and ‘Israeli’ enemy is responsible for killing the mujahideen Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and Qassem Soleimani," said Ahmed al-Assadi, a PMU spokesman.