Hossein Dehghan, an advisor to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Sunday that Iran’s response to the United States’ action in assassinating Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani will certainly be a military response “against military sites”.

“The response for sure will be military and against military sites,” he told CNN in an exclusive interview.

“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.

He 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.”

Lieutenant General Soleimani was assassinated in a U.S. airstrike on Baghdad Airport on Friday morning.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei released a message on Friday to express his deepest condolences over the martyrdom of General Soleimani, saying Iran will take tough revenge on the criminals who killed the top Iranian general.

Dehghan described Trumps tweets as ‘ridiculous and absurd’

Dehghan also described U.S. President Donald Trump’s tweets as “ridiculous and absurd”.

“[Trump] doesn’t know international law. He doesn’t recognize UN resolutions either. Basically he is a veritable gangster and a gambler. He is no politician he has no mental stability,” Dehghan said.

In a tweet on Saturday, Trump said, “....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!”

Making reference to United National resolution 2347 which condemns the unlawful destruction of cultural heritage, Dehghan said, “If [Trump] wants to impose rule, logic and rationality over his decision he should accept that he is a war criminal and must be tried in a relevant court.”

Asked what would happen if Trump were to carry out his threat to strike any of Iran's cultural sites, Dehghan said, “For sure no American military staff, no American political center, no American military base, no American vessel will be safe. And they are accessible to us.”

NA/PA