TEHRAN — Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has described American rulers as “cowards” and “savages” over the January 3 assassination of Iran’s top anti-terror general Qassem Soleimani.

“You cowardly killed the number one enemy of Daesh (ISIS),” Zarif said on Monday in a ceremony to honor Foreign Ministry staff who were martyred during Iraq’s war against Iran in the 1980s.

“This is how you are. You are cowards and savages but you couldn’t bring these people to their knees,” he added.

U.S. President Donald Trump on January 3 ordered strikes that martyred General Soleimani, chief of the IRGC Quds Force, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU).

In the early hours of January 8, the IRGC attacked Ain al-Assad airbase hosting U.S. forces in western Iraq as part of its promised “tough revenge” for the U.S. terror attack. Iran notified the Iraqi government beforehand so as to avoid casualties.

Iran has announced that it will continue to take its tough revenge on those who were behind the assassination.

In his remarks, Zarif said it is because of the martyrs’ sacrifices that no country can tell Iranians that if it stops its supports, “you will be speaking in another language in ten days.”

The foreign minister said it is because of the martyrs’ sacrifices that former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein failed to reach its plan of conquering Iran in a week.

Also, back in 2018, Trump said close U.S. ally Saudi Arabia and its king would not last “for two weeks” without U.S. military support.

“We protect Saudi Arabia. Would you say they’re rich? And I love the king, King Salman. But I said ‘King – we’re protecting you – you might not be there for two weeks without us – you have to pay for your military,’” he said.

Pointing to the support former Iraqi despot Saddam Hussein received from all the powerful countries in the world to invade Iran, Zarif said, “Today, you claim to be civilized in front of us? What does not suit you at all is being civilized.”

“You sent weapons [to Saddam] and all of you cooperated [with him],” he added.

In Iran, the 1980-1988 war, which was imposed on Iran by Iraq’s Saddam, is known as the Sacred Defense, and the Sacred Defense Week is held on the anniversary of the beginning of the war in late September.

This year, the outbreak of the coronavirus canceled military parades in commemoration of the martyrs of the war.

MH/PA