Iran’s Shamkhani Warns US Forces Seeking Military Adventurism Will Be ‘Sent to The Cemetery’

By Staff, Agencies

Iran's Supreme National Security Council Secretary Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani pushed back against US President Donald Trump's recent threat that any response to an Iranian attack “will be 1,000 times greater in magnitude”.

In a post on Twitter on Wednesday, Shamkhani pledged that forces mulling military adventurism against Iran will be "sent to the cemetery", reminding Washington about the Islamic Republic's effective defense against Iraq's invasion of the country in the 1980s.

Trump tweeted his threat on 14 September after reports cited unnamed American officials as claiming that Iran was hatching plans to assassinate US Ambassador to South Africa Lana Marks in retaliation for the January assassination of Lieutenant General Qasem Soleimani, the Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps [IRGC] Quds Force.

Martyr Soleimani was assassinated in a Washington-ordered drone strike along with Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy head of Iraq’s Hashd al-Sha’abi, and their companions, as their vehicle was targeted outside Baghdad International Airport on 3 January.

The US claimed that martyr Soleimani had been planning numerous attacks against American personnel and infrastructure in the region, although no evidence of the alleged attack plans was presented.

Earlier, a US media report alleged that Tehran was considering the covert operation in retaliation for the killing of Soleimani ahead of the presidential election in the United States in November.

Trump’s threat was slammed as “a baseless allegation” against Tehran by the Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Majid Takht Ravanchi in letters to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and President of the Security Council Abdou Abarry.

“Such a provocative statement constitutes a gross violation of the very fundamental principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, particularly its Article 2[4] that clearly prohibits the threat or use of force,” Takht Ravanchi wrote.

He also reminded the UN that Trump had issued a number of threats targeting Iran following the assassination of General Soleimani.

Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei similarly cautioned the United States against making another “strategic mistake”.