TEHRAN – The chief commander of the Iranian Army, Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi, has issued a warning to Israel, telling them to "be ready" for a response to the recent assassination of Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. 

"Sayyed Hassan's blood will definitely destroy the Zionist regime and its masters," Mousavi told reporters on Monday. He described the assassination as a "wrongful materialistic thinking" on the part of the "Zionists," who "thought they would succeed."

"They are, however, deepening their own grave," the commander added, asserting, "Today, the Zionists are moving farther towards demise."

"Our experience shows that when the blood of a martyr is shed, it serves a force that is thousands of times more formidable than the martyr himself," he said, confidently stating that Hezbollah's capabilities will only be enhanced by this event.

Mousavi further dismissed Israeli attempts to portray the assassination as a "victory," calling them "psychological operations" aimed at pleasing "their masters and own people" while making Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appear successful. "Such efforts are based on their materialistic standards and calculations," the commander said, adding, "But these calculations have proven to be wrong for years."

Hezbollah's leader was assassinated on Friday during intense Israeli airstrikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut. Following the assassination, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei promised that the Resistance front would deal "crushing blows" to the "dilapidated and decaying body" of the Zionist regime. 

President Masoud Pezeshkian similarly vowed on Sunday that the "atrocity" would not go unanswered and that the Islamic Republic must give a "decisive" response to the Israeli regime.