Iran to Swiftly Defend Own Nation, Land, Interests

Takht Ravanchi sent a letter to the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, in which he expressed Iran’s protest to Trump’s recent threat based on forged media propaganda.  

“The United States will be responsible for any possible adventure against Iran,” he warned, stressing that Iran will not hesitate a single moment in the legitimate defense of its nation, land, and interests.

Iran’s UN ambassador called Trump's threat a violation of the UN Charter principles, including Article 2, which explicitly prohibits any kind of threat or use of force.

Pointing to the past US threats against Iran, including assassination of General Qassem Soleimani, he urged the UN Security Council to force Washington to end its threats, illegal moves and irresponsible policies.

US President Donald Trump has recently ranted on striking Iran “1000 times greater in magnitude” following a bogus report of Politico magazine on alleged Iran plan to assassinate a US diplomat in South Africa.

A report by Politico on Monday cited the US officials as claiming that the “Iranian government is weighing an assassination attempt against the American ambassador to South Africa” in retaliation for the assassination of General Soleimeni.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry was quick to strongly reject the allegation hours later.

“Such baseless remarks are part of the Trump administration’s counter-intelligence campaign against Iran. The US regime’s resort to allegations and lies against Iran on the threshold of the US presidential election and concurrent with its pressures to use the UN Security Council mechanisms with the aim of increasing pressure on the Iranian nation was predictable,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Monday.

He also blasted the US media for releasing an ordered, biased and targeted report against Iran, advising the American officials to give up resorting to repeated and worn-out methods to spread an anti-Iran atmosphere on the international scene.

Khatibzadeh described Iran as a responsible member of the international society which has proved its commitment to the international diplomatic principles and norms, saying that it is the US and the current regime in the White House that has implemented tens of assassination plots and military interventions in other countries in recent years, an instance of which was the assassination of General Soleimani in Iraq.

“As repeatedly said before, the Islamic Republic of Iran will continue legally pursuing the criminal and cowardly assassination of General Soleimani internationally at all levels and will neither forgive nor forget the terrorist act,” he stressed.

In relevant remarks, the Iranian Embassy in Pretoria rejected the allegations raised by the US media that Tehran was weighing plans to kill the US ambassador to South Africa in revenge for the assassination of IRGC Quds Force Commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimeni, saying that releasing such reports is a fruitless policy.

“World (has) not forgotten the lies of US intelligence agencies to initiate Iraq war. This worn-out policy no longer has a buyer. Especially, while the head of Trump's foreign policy team is also one of those liars and even the great liar,” the Iranian embassy wrote on its twitter page on Tuesday.

It also reminded the remarks made by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on his earlier post as the CIA director, when he said, “I was the CIA director. We lied, we cheated, we stole.”

Meantime, a spokesman for South Africa’s Foreign Ministry said the US official’s allegation took Pretoria by surprise.

“We only became aware of this report this morning,” Lunga Ngqengelele said by phone on Monday.

Department of International Relations and Cooperation Minister Naledi Pandor may issue a statement later, he added.

Lieutenant General Soleimani was assassinated in a US drone strike on Baghdad International Airport in Iraq on January 3.

The airstrike also martyred Deputy Commander of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. The two were martyred in an American airstrike that targeted their vehicle on the road to the airport.

Five Iranian and five Iraqi military men were martyred by the missiles fired by the US drone at Baghdad International Airport.

On January 8, the IRGC Aerospace Force started heavy ballistic missile attacks on US Ein Al-Assad airbase in Southwestern Iraq near the border with Syria and a US operated airbase in Erbil in retaliation for the US assassination of General Soleimani.

Ein Al-Assad is an airbase with a 4km runway at 188m altitude from sea levels, which is the main and the largest US airbase in Iraq. Early reports said the radar systems and missile defense shields in Ein Al-Assad failed to operate and intercept the Iranian missiles. Unofficial reports said the US army's central radar systems at Ein Al-Assad had been jammed by electronic warfare.

The second IRGC reprisal attack targeted a US military base near Erbil airport in Iraqi Kurdistan Region in the second leg of "Martyr Soleimani" reprisal operation.

Iraq said the attacks had not taken any toll from its army men stationed at these two bases. The US army had blocked entrance into Ein Al-Assad to everyone, including the Iraqi army.

It was the first direct attack on the US army ever since world war two.

The IRGC officials said none of the missiles had been intercepted.

Meantime, Iran announced in late June that it had issued arrest warrants for 36 officials of the US and other countries who have been involved in the assassination of the martyred General Soleimani.

"36 individuals who have been involved or ordered the assassination of Hajj Qassem, including the political and military officials of the US and other governments, have been identified and arrest warrants have been issued for them by the judiciary officials and red alerts have also been issued for them via the Interpol," Prosecutor-General of Tehran Ali Alqasi Mehr said.

He said that the prosecuted individuals are accused of murder and terrorist action, adding that US President Donald Trump stands at the top of the list and will be prosecuted as soon as he stands down presidency after his term ends.