Successor to slain Iran general faces same fate if he kills Americans, warns US envoy
- Esmail Ghaani, new head of elite Quds Force, had said he would ‘continue in luminous path’ to drive US forces out of region
- Iran calls threat by special representative Brian Hook a sign of US ‘governmental terrorism’
The successor to the Iranian commander killed in a US drone strike would suffer the same fate if he followed a similar path by killing Americans, the US special representative for Iran said, according to Asharq al-Awsat newspaper.
Washington blamed General Qassem Soleimani for masterminding attacks by Iran-aligned militias on US forces in the region.
US President Donald Trump ordered the January 3 drone strike in Iraq after an escalation that began last month with missile strikes that killed an American contractor, which Washington blamed on an Iranian-aligned militia in Iraq.
Iran responded to the killing of Soleimani by launching missiles at US targets in Iraq on January 8, although no US soldiers were killed.
After Soleimani’s death, Tehran swiftly appointed Esmail Ghaani as the new head of the Quds Force, an elite unit in the Revolutionary Guards that handles actions abroad. Ghaani has pledged to pursue Soleimani’s course.