TEHRAN – Assassination of the commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force General Qassem Soleimani has united the people of the region against the United States presence, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

“Last year, across the region, from Iran & Iraq to India & Pakistan, people showed disgust for murderers of General Soleimani,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry said in a tweet on Wednesday, three days before the first anniversary of the assassination of General Soleimani in an American drone strike near Baghdad’s international airport earlier this year.

Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy head of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), who accompanied Lieutenant General Soleimani upon his arrival in Baghdad, was also assassinated in the strike.

The Foreign Ministry said that the assassination of the Iranian general has brought the people of the region together in opposing U.S. policies in the region.

“His blood united our region in opposing US arrogance & presence, a real response to recklessness. The anger & unity still stand,” the ministry continued.

It also posted a picture showing the people across the region staging processions to commemorate General Soleimani. The picture also features a statement from Iranian Foreign Minister Mohamad Javad Zarif in which he said the real response to the assassination of General Soleimani will come from the people of the region.

Zarif had said, “The real response will come from the people of the region, who are showing that they are absolutely disgusted with the U.S. behavior. The Americans will see that Soleimani as a martyr will be much more effective than a General Soleimani.”

Iran is preparing to hold the first anniversary of the assassination amid simmering tensions with the U.S.

Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, Leader of the Islamic Revolution, recently met with a group of the organizers for commemorating the martyrdom anniversary of General Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

During the meeting, the Leader pointed to the missile strike that Iran launched at the U.S. Ain al-Assad airbase in western Iraq in response to the assassination of General Soleimani, saying the strike was another slap on the face of America. But the tougher slap, he added, would be the soft victory over the superficial hegemony of arrogance and the expulsion of the Americas from the region.

The Leader also vowed revenge for the martyrs of the Resistance Front. “Millions attending Martyrs Soleimani and Abu Mahdi’s funerals in Iraq and Iran was the first severe slap to the U.S. But the worse one is overcoming the hegemony of arrogance and expelling the U.S. from the region. Of course, revenge will be taken on those who ordered it and the murderers,” the Leader stated.

With the assassination anniversary just a few days away, tensions between Tehran and Washington have soared in recent days. The U.S. has sent a submarine to the Persian Gulf and Israel is reportedly following suit. Last week, the U.S. announced the arrival of the nuclear-powered submarine USS Georgia in the Persian Gulf. The submarine is equipped with Tomahawk missiles. The U.S. has just four Ohio class guided-missile submarines, none of which has traveled to the Persian Gulf in eight years.

In the latest sign of escalation, the Iranian foreign minister received a phone call on Tuesday from his Qatari counterpart Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, shortly after the latter spoke by phone with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

During the phone call, the chief Iranian diplomat “pointed to certain suspicious moves and mischievous acts by the United States, and stressed that the responsibility for the consequences of any possible adventure will fall on Washington,” according to a statement issued by the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

SM/PA