TEHRAN — Chief of Staff of Iran's Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Bagheri has warned the global arrogance (the U.S.) to await a response for the assassination of top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU).

In remarks on Tuesday, Bagheri said the barbaric assassination of Soleimani and Muhandis in the darkness of the night by the criminal U.S. regime is a clear example of state terrorism.

"Martyr Soleimani and his comrades proved that the power of the U.S. and the Zionist regime is empty and they are not able to fight the warriors of the Resistance Front," Bagheri said, according to Mehr.

On January 3, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered strikes that martyred General Soleimani, chief of the IRGC Quds Force, and al-Muhandis.

In the early hours of January 8, the IRGC attacked Ain al-Assad airbase in Anbar province 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.

In June, Tehran said 36 individuals have been identified in connection with the Soleimani assassination.

Bagheri describes General Soleimani as a courageous, wise and kind person who was against sectarianism.

“36 individuals who cooperated, collaborated, and participated in the assassination of Hajj Qassem, including political and military authorities of the U.S. and other countries, have been identified,” Tehran Prosecutor General Ali Alqasi-Mehr said.

Alqasi-Mehr named Trump as the key individual at the top of the list, saying his pursuit will continue even after his tenure as U.S. president.

Bagheri described General Soleimani as a courageous, wise and kind person who was against sectarianism.

"The arrogant should await a vengeance at the level of the great name of Soleimani," he stressed.

Bagheri also said that the peak of the U.S.'s savagery is manifested in its sanctions on Iran amid the spread of the coronavirus, which has hit Iran very hard.

Last month, the Trump administration announced it had imposed new sanctions on Iran’s financial sector in defiance of Washington’s European allies who warned of the humanitarian consequences of the sanctions on Iran’s fight against the coronavirus.

The sanctions targeted the few remaining Iranian banks which were not subject to secondary sanctions.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the United States is seeking to blow up Iran’s remaining channels to pay for food and medicine.

“Amid Covid19 pandemic, U.S. regime wants to blow up our remaining channels to pay for food & medicine,” Zarif wrote in a tweet. “Iranians WILL survive this latest of cruelties.”

He described conspiring to starve the Iranian population as a “crime against humanity”, adding, “Culprits & enablers—who block our money—WILL face justice.”

MH/PA