TEHRAN — Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said the situation in the Middle East is a direct result of the United States’ “arrogance” and their callous attitude of not trying to find out the details and implications of the provocation.

The situation in the region is quite dangerous after the U.S. assassination of top Iranian general, Qassem Soleimani, and the subsequent downing of a Ukrainian aircraft by accident, Times Now reported on Saturday. 

“The U.S. should realize that there were protests all over the world after Soleimani’s killing all across the world including 430 Indian cities,” he said. 

Meanwhile, entities like Daesh (ISIS) celebrated the killing of Soleimani, the foreign minister further said.

Zarif’s remarks come weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the drone strikes that martyred Lieutenant General Soleimani, chief of the IRGC’s Quds Force, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), as well as eight other companions.

Millions of mourners took to the streets in Ahwaz, Mashhad, Tehran, Qom, and Kerman – Soleimani’s hometown – to attend the top general’s funeral procession.

The burial ceremony was held on January 7 in Kerman, but it was postponed until later that night due to overcrowding and a stampede that killed tens of people and injured many more.

In the early hours of January 8, the IRGC attacked the U.S. airbase of Ain al-Assad in Anbar province in western Iraq as part of its promised “tough revenge” for the assassination of General Soleimani.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Friday that Iran’s revenge “was a blow to America.”

“Of course, it was an effective military blow, but more importantly and higher than military blow, this was a blow to America’s grandeur as a superpower,” Ayatollah Khamenei said while addressing worshippers during the Tehran Friday Prayers.

“This blow cannot be repaired by anything,” the Leader asserted.

He also said Soleimani’s assassination was recorded as a scandal for the U.S. government. “They martyred a person who was the most powerful commander in the fight against terrorism in the region.”

MH/PA