Khamenei wants Iran to carry out direct reprisal rather than relying on proxies

[mangekyo]

Ayatollah Khamenei calls for direct attack on American interests and head of Iran's Revolutionary Guard vows to 'set ablaze' US allies in revenge for Qassem Soleimani's death

• Khamenei wants Iran to carry out direct reprisal rather than relying on proxies
• The supreme leader wept over Soleimani's coffin at his Tehran funeral yesterday
• Revolutionary guard chief Hossein Salami vowed revenge at another procession

By TIM STICKINGS FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 10:45 GMT, 7 January 2020 | UPDATED: 10:47 GMT, 7 January 2020

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called for a direct attack on US interests in revenge for the death of Qassem Soleimani while the head of Iran's revolutionary guard vowed to 'set ablaze' American allies.

Khamenei has ordered Iranian forces to carry out a direct retaliation rather than relying on Tehran's proxies in the region.

The supreme leader, who wept in public over Soleimani's coffin in Tehran yesterday, has vowed 'severe revenge' for the drone strike which killed the general.

Meanwhile the revolutionary guard chief Hossein Salami told mourners at Soleimani's funeral today that Iran would hit places supported by Washington.

Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (pictured in Tehran yesterday) has called for a direct attack on US interests following the death of Qassem Soleimani

Salami made the pledge before a crowd of thousands gathered in a central square in Kerman, where a deadly stampede later broke out.

'The martyr Qassem Soleimani is more powerful... now that he is dead,' the revolutionary guards leader told mourners today.

'The enemy killed him unjustly. We will take revenge. We will set ablaze where they like,' Salami said, drawing cries of 'Death to Israel!'

He also praised Soleimani's exploits as leader of the guards' expeditionary Quds Force, which had backed Yemeni rebels and militias in Iraq and Syria.

Khamenei made a rare appearance at a meeting of the Iranian National Security Council on Monday to plot Iran's response, The New York Times reported.

In a sign of Iran's fury, Khamenei wants Iran to carry out reprisals itself rather than relying on its proxies in the region as it has frequently done in the past.

Khamenei has ordered Iranian forces to carry out a direct retaliation against US interests after an American drone strike killed military commander Qassem Soleimani (pictured)

Tehran says it has worked up 13 sets of plans for revenge for Soleimani's killing, but has not provided details.

Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said that even the weakest among them would be a 'historic nightmare' for the U.S.

'If the U.S. troops do not leave our region voluntarily and upright, we will do something to carry their bodies horizontally out,' Shamkhani said.

American forces are braced for retaliation and the US-led coalition against ISIS said in a statement that it was pausing its fight against the jihadists to shore up its own defences.

One official said the US anticipated a 'major' attack of some type within the next day or two.

There are also fears that Iran will harass shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, which is critical to the world's oil supply.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (fourth from right), Iranian president Hassan Rouhani (fifth from right) and others mourn over Soleimani's casket in Tehran yesterday

Iranians carry the coffin during the funeral ceremony of Qasem Soleimani, commander of Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Forces, who was killed in a US drone strike in Iraq

Donald Trump has threatened a 'disproportionate response' targeting cultural sites if Iran strikes, brushing off claims that such an action could be considered a war crime.

The president said America had lined up attacks on 52 targets 'important to Iran and the Iranian culture', representing the number of Americans held hostage at the US embassy in Tehran after a raid in 1979.

Iran's parliament has meanwhile passed an urgent bill declaring the US military's command at the Pentagon and those acting on its behalf as 'terrorists.'

The measure appears to be an attempt to mirror a decision by Trump in April to declare the Revolutionary Guard a 'terrorist organization.'

The US Defense Department used the Guard's designation as a terror organization in to support the strike near Baghdad airport that killed Soleimani.

Iranian lawmakers hurried the bill through with a special procedure today while some chanted 'Death to America'.

The vote also saw lawmakers approve funding for the Quds Force with an additional £170million.

 

[bsruzm]

All I understood is Iran will retaliate against an American ally in region. This is worse than directly attacking US forces.

 

[mangekyo]

All I understood is Iran will retaliate against an American ally in region. This is worse than directly attacking US forces.

It means USA and US allies

 

[Fox_hound]

Yawn
Day 4, still waiting for Iran to retaliate!

 

[Maarkhoor]

It means USA and US allies

You think Pakistan is U.S ally?

All I understood is Iran will retaliate against an American ally in region. This is worse than directly attacking US forces.

They will hijack vessel or rocket attack at KSA oilfields.....Max...nothing more.

 

[mangekyo]

You think Pakistan is U.S ally?

He is talking about gulf lackeys

Khamenei Wants to Put Iran’s Stamp on Reprisal for U.S. Killing of Top General

In a departure from Iran’s usual tactics of hiding behind proxies, the country’s supreme leader wants any retaliation for the killing of a top military commander to be carried out openly by Iranian forces.

The funeral procession for Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani in Tehran on Monday.Credit...Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times

By Farnaz Fassihi and David D. Kirkpatrick

• Published Jan. 6, 2020Updated Jan. 7, 2020, 3:08 a.m. ET

In the tense hours following the American killing of a top Iranian military commander, the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, made a rare appearance at a meeting of the government’s National Security Council to lay down the parameters for any retaliation. It must be a direct and proportional attack on American interests, he said, openly carried out by Iranian forces themselves, three Iranians familiar with the meeting said Monday.

It was a startling departure for the Iranian leadership. Since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979, Tehran had almost always cloaked its attacks behind the actions of proxies it had cultivated around the region. But in the fury generated by the killing of the military commander, Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, a close ally and personal friend of the supreme leader, the ayatollah was willing to cast aside those traditional cautions.

The nation’s anger over the commander’s death was on vivid display Monday, as millions of Iranians poured into the streets of Tehran for a funeral procession and Mr. Khamenei wept openly over the coffin.

“We are ready to take a fierce revenge against America,” Gen. Hamid Sarkheili of the Revolutionary Guard declared to the throng. “American troops in the Persian Gulf and in Iraq and Syria are within our reach.”

“No negotiations or deal, only war with America,” funeral attendees chanted in a video shared with The New York Times.

A renowned eulogist and member of the Revolutionary Guard, Sadegh Ahangaran, exhorted the funeral crowds to raise their voices so “damned America can hear you” and to “wave the flags in preparation for war.”

repeatedly threatened to retaliate for any attacks against American interests by ordering airstrikes against as many as 52 potential targets, one for each American hostage held after the seizure of the United States embassy in Tehran in 1979.

In response, Iran’s moderate president, Hassan Rouhani, on Monday responded with his own numerology. “Those who refer to the number 52 should also remember the number 290,” he said on Twitter, a reference to the 290 people killed in 1988 in the accidental downing of an Iranian airliner by an American warship. “Never threaten the Iranian nation,” Mr. Rouhani added.

In Iraq, where the Parliament had earlier called for the immediate expulsion of the 5,000 American troops stationed there, Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi on Monday listed steps to curtail the troops’ movements.

While plans were being made for departure of the Americans, he said, they would now be limited to “training and advising” Iraqi forces, required to remain within the bases and barred from Iraqi air space.

Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, center right, met with Matthew Tueller, the United States’ ambassador to Iraq, on Monday.Credit...Iraqi Prime Minister's Media Office, via Associated Press
Mr. Abdul Mahdi met with Matthew Tueller, the American ambassador to Iraq, on Monday, and “stressed the need for joint action to implement the withdrawal,” according to a statement and photo released by Mr. Abdul Mahdi’s office. He also emphasized Iraq’s efforts to prevent the current tensions between Iran and the United States from sliding into “open war.”

The United States military stirred a media flurry by accidentally releasing a draft letter that seemed to describe imminent plans to withdraw from Iraq. Marine Corps Brig. Gen. William H. Seely III, the commander of the United States forces in Iraq, wrote to the Iraqi government that the American troops would be relocated “to prepare for onward movement.”

“We respect your sovereign decision to order our departure,” he wrote.

But Defense Department officials played down the significance of the letter. “Here’s the bottom line, this was a mistake,” Gen. Mark A. Milley, President Trump’s top military commander, told reporters at the Pentagon during a hastily called press briefing. “It’s a draft unsigned letter because we are moving forces around.”

“There’s been no decision whatsoever to leave Iraq,” Mark T. Esper, the defense secretary, told reporters. “There’s been no decision made to leave Iraq. Period.”


Although the Trump administration has said that the United States killed General Suleimani because he was planning imminent attacks against American interests, there were indications Monday that he may have been leading an effort to calm tensions with Saudi Arabia.

Prime Minister Abdul Mahdi of Iraq said that he was supposed to meet with General Suleimani on the morning he was killed, and that he expected him to bring messages from the Iranians that might help to “reach agreements and breakthroughs important for the situation in Iraq and the region.”

In Washington, two top Senate Democrats urged President Trump early Monday to declassify the administration’s formal notification to Congress giving notice of the airstrike that killed General Suleimani.

Such notification of Congress is required by law, and to classify the entirety of such a notification is highly unusual.

United States Army paratroopers leaving for the Middle East from Fort Bragg, N.C., on Sunday.Credit...Bryan Woolston/Reuters
Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, and Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said in a joint statement that it was “critical that national security matters of such import be shared with the American people in a timely manner.”

And Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, urged Mr. Trump’s critics not to jump to conclusions. “Unfortunately, in this toxic political environment, some of our colleagues rushed to blame our own government before even knowing the facts,” he said.


For its part, Iran simultaneously continued a monthslong push against the Trump administration over its demands that Tehran submit to a more restrictive renegotiation of a 2015 accord with the Western powers over its nuclear research. The Trump administration has sought to pressure Iran by devastating its economy with sweeping economic sanctions, which Iranian officials have denounced as economic warfare.

The sanctions set off the cycle of attacks and counterattacks that culminated last week in the killing of General Suleimani. Iran has also responded with carefully calibrated steps away from the deal’s limits on its nuclear program. On Sunday, Iranian officials said that they had now abandoned all restrictions on the enrichment of uranium, though they said they would continue to admit inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Amid the emotion of the funeral, some called for vengeance that would remake the region. “Even if we attack all of U.S. bases and even if we kill Trump himself it’s not enough revenge,” Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh said at the funeral. “We must totally eliminate all U.S. troops from the region.”

For now, Iranian officials seem to be in no rush to strike back against the United States, possibly enjoying their ability to spread anxiety throughout the West. They seem content to bask in the nationalist surge in their popularity, growing international sympathy and the push to expel American troops from Iraq. “I don’t think they want to shift the conversation yet,” said Sanam Vakil, a scholar of Iran at Chatham House, a research center in London.

But for the hard-liners who dominate the Iranian National Security Council, she said, some vigorous retaliation would be the only rational response. “A nonresponse would appear weak and invite further pressure, creating problems in domestic politics and internationally,” she said.

Helene Cooper contributed reporting.

 

[Baz]

Calm down rocket pants. nothing is gonna happen. EYERAN can't do jack shit

 

[mangekyo]

You think Pakistan is U.S ally?


They will hijack vessel or rocket attack at KSA oilfields.....Max...nothing more.

Thanks for intelligence briefing

Yawn
Day 4, still waiting for Iran to retaliate!

Its been 3 days of mourning...

Calm down rocket pants. nothing is gonna happen. EYERAN can't do jack shit

Ok, Supapowa

 

[Maarkhoor]

Thanks for intelligence briefing

You did not answer my question....

Do you / Iranian think Pakistan is U.S ally?

 

[mangekyo]

You did not answer my question....

Do you / Iranian think Pakistan is U.S ally?

Stop trolling dude

 

[alee92nawaz]

Ayatollah Khamenei calls for direct attack on American interests and head of Iran's Revolutionary Guard vows to 'set ablaze' US allies in revenge for Qassem Soleimani's death

• Khamenei wants Iran to carry out direct reprisal rather than relying on proxies
• The supreme leader wept over Soleimani's coffin at his Tehran funeral yesterday
• Revolutionary guard chief Hossein Salami vowed revenge at another procession

By TIM STICKINGS FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 10:45 GMT, 7 January 2020 | UPDATED: 10:47 GMT, 7 January 2020

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called for a direct attack on US interests in revenge for the death of Qassem Soleimani while the head of Iran's revolutionary guard vowed to 'set ablaze' American allies.

Khamenei has ordered Iranian forces to carry out a direct retaliation rather than relying on Tehran's proxies in the region.

The supreme leader, who wept in public over Soleimani's coffin in Tehran yesterday, has vowed 'severe revenge' for the drone strike which killed the general.

Meanwhile the revolutionary guard chief Hossein Salami told mourners at Soleimani's funeral today that Iran would hit places supported by Washington.

Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (pictured in Tehran yesterday) has called for a direct attack on US interests following the death of Qassem Soleimani

Salami made the pledge before a crowd of thousands gathered in a central square in Kerman, where a deadly stampede later broke out.

'The martyr Qassem Soleimani is more powerful... now that he is dead,' the revolutionary guards leader told mourners today.

'The enemy killed him unjustly. We will take revenge. We will set ablaze where they like,' Salami said, drawing cries of 'Death to Israel!'

He also praised Soleimani's exploits as leader of the guards' expeditionary Quds Force, which had backed Yemeni rebels and militias in Iraq and Syria.

Khamenei made a rare appearance at a meeting of the Iranian National Security Council on Monday to plot Iran's response, The New York Times reported.

In a sign of Iran's fury, Khamenei wants Iran to carry out reprisals itself rather than relying on its proxies in the region as it has frequently done in the past.

Khamenei has ordered Iranian forces to carry out a direct retaliation against US interests after an American drone strike killed military commander Qassem Soleimani (pictured)

Tehran says it has worked up 13 sets of plans for revenge for Soleimani's killing, but has not provided details.

Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said that even the weakest among them would be a 'historic nightmare' for the U.S.

'If the U.S. troops do not leave our region voluntarily and upright, we will do something to carry their bodies horizontally out,' Shamkhani said.

American forces are braced for retaliation and the US-led coalition against ISIS said in a statement that it was pausing its fight against the jihadists to shore up its own defences.

One official said the US anticipated a 'major' attack of some type within the next day or two.

There are also fears that Iran will harass shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, which is critical to the world's oil supply.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (fourth from right), Iranian president Hassan Rouhani (fifth from right) and others mourn over Soleimani's casket in Tehran yesterday

Iranians carry the coffin during the funeral ceremony of Qasem Soleimani, commander of Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Forces, who was killed in a US drone strike in Iraq

Donald Trump has threatened a 'disproportionate response' targeting cultural sites if Iran strikes, brushing off claims that such an action could be considered a war crime.

The president said America had lined up attacks on 52 targets 'important to Iran and the Iranian culture', representing the number of Americans held hostage at the US embassy in Tehran after a raid in 1979.

Iran's parliament has meanwhile passed an urgent bill declaring the US military's command at the Pentagon and those acting on its behalf as 'terrorists.'

The measure appears to be an attempt to mirror a decision by Trump in April to declare the Revolutionary Guard a 'terrorist organization.'

The US Defense Department used the Guard's designation as a terror organization in to support the strike near Baghdad airport that killed Soleimani.

Iranian lawmakers hurried the bill through with a special procedure today while some chanted 'Death to America'.

The vote also saw lawmakers approve funding for the Quds Force with an additional £170million.

According to Iranian foreign minister, Iran is not looking for war. So a big no to *Intikam_Sakht*

 

[Fox_hound]

Its have been 3 days of mourning...


Im glad we didn't mourn for the 300 trees and 1 crow and retaliated the very next day

 

[Maxpane]

lets wait and see

 

[Enigma_]

Pakistaniao stay safe if you're in Pakistan and close to Iran. I fear there's going to be a lot of bloodshed. Iranian people are going to get slaughtered.

 

[Death Professor]

You did not answer my question....

Do you / Iranian think Pakistan is U.S ally?

Even US doesn't consider Pakistan its ally, they flip flop all the time. It would hardly have an effect on US if they target Pakistan or Pakistanis. Iran would only create another enemy by attacking Pakistan. And I think Iranian leadership is smart enough to not make that mistake.