TEHRAN - The Army Ground Force Commander, Kiomars Heidari, on Monday downplayed U.S. President Donald Trump’s military threats against Iran, saying such threats are merely a bluff to cover Washington's failures in the region.

In a tweet on Saturday, Trump threatened to target 52 Iranian sites, including cultural ones.

Trump’s threats came after Iranian authorities had promised they would take hard revenge for the assassination of Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani.

“....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!” Trump tweeted.

Brigadier General Heidari repeated Iran’s promise to take avenge on the U.S. for the assassination of the top Iranian military commander. 

“Washington will soon receive a crushing response,” Heidari said on the sidelines of a huge funeral procession in Tehran for General Soleimani, the chief of the IRGC Quds Force.

Heidari added, “It is forty years that the U.S. is threatening Iran. Trump’s recent threats are nothing but a bluff.” 

He further highlighted the country’s high-level capabilities in resisting against such threats. 

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Sunday that the end of the United States’ “malign presence” in West Asia has begun.

“Whether kicking or screaming, end of U.S. malign presence in West Asia has begun,” Zarif said in a tweet.

Zarif also condemned U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats of targeting 52 Iranian sites, reminding him that targeting cultural sites is an instance of “war crime”.

MJ/PA