U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Iran over potential retaliation for the death of one of Iranian top generals, and Iraq over the potential expulsion of United States troops.
International media reports say that President Trump in evening of January 6 doubled down on his claim that he would target Iranian cultural sites if Iran retaliated for the targeted killing of one of its top generals, and threatened “very big sanctions” on Iraq if American troops are forced to leave the country.
According to The New York Times, Mr. Trump on Sunday reiterated to reporters the spirit of a Twitter post on Saturday, when he said the United States government had identified 52 sites for retaliation against Iran if there were a response to Major-General Qasem Soleimani’s assassination. Some, he tweeted, were of “cultural” significance.
Such a move could be considered a war crime under international laws, but Mr. Trump said Sunday that he was undeterred.
President Trump also vowed to impose sanctions on Iraq if a move to evict American military personnel from the country takes place, a possibility heightened by the Iraqi Parliament’s passage Sunday of a measure to expel foreign troops in response to the killing of General Soleimani. That strike took place in Iraq, in a move that officials saw as violating the country’s sovereignty.
“We have a very extraordinarily expensive air base that's there. It cost billions of dollars to build. We're not leaving unless they pay us back for it," Trump told reporters, according to the BBC.
Tensions are reportedly high after the US assassinated Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad last week.
Iran has vowed “severe revenge.”
IRNA says that the newly appointed commander of the IRGC Quds Forces Brigadier General Esmail Ghaani noted on January 6 that they will continue General Soleimani’s path with the same strength and “his martyrdom will be reciprocated in several steps by removing the US from the region."
“The revenge for Soleimani’s martyrdom is a promise given by God, as the God is the main avenger,” he said, according to IRNA.
