Ceremony marks 40 days since the death of top Iranian general Qassem Suleimani. AFP
Ceremony marks 40 days since the death of top Iranian general Qassem Suleimani. AFP
Ceremony marks 40 days since the death of top Iranian general Qassem Suleimani. AFP
Ceremony marks 40 days since the death of top Iranian general Qassem Suleimani. AFP

Iran says it will strike US and Israel if they make 'slightest error'


Nicky Harley
  • English
  • Arabic

Iran is ready to strike the US and Israel if they give it any reason to do so, the new head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a televised speech on Thursday.

The regime is marking the 40th day since the death of top commander Qassem Suleimani.

"If you make the slightest error, we will hit both of you," Maj Gen Hossein Salami said at the ceremony saying:

Iranian state TV also aired an interview with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, in which he said he had a close relationship with Suleimani.

Mr Nasrallah spoke of highlighting the role Suleimani played in helping to build up Hezbollah's rocket arsenal, and his own role in military operations during the group's war with Israel in 2006.

Suleimani, who was head of the Quds Force, the Guard's foreign operations branch, was killed by a US drone in Baghdad on January 3 along with Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi Al Muhandis.

Suleimani also played an important role in Iraq's battle against ISIS, Mr Nasrallah said.

He said the commander had asked for Hezbollah commanders to work with Iraqi security forces in battling the militant group when it stormed across large areas of Iraq in 2014.

Quds Force chief, Brig Gen Esmail Ghaani, read out Suleimani's will at a ceremony in Tehran.

In it he urged Iranians to support Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and said political factions should put aside their differences.

Mr Khamenei said last week that Iran would support Palestinian armed groups as much as it could and urged Palestinians to confront a US plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace.

US President Donald Trump announced a plan that would set up a Palestinian state with strict conditions but allow Israel to take over long-contested Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Palestinian leaders reject it.

The story in numbers

18

This is how many recognised sects Lebanon is home to, along with about four million citizens

450,000

More than this many Palestinian refugees are registered with UNRWA in Lebanon, with about 45 per cent of them living in the country’s 12 refugee camps

1.5 million

There are just under 1 million Syrian refugees registered with the UN, although the government puts the figure upwards of 1.5m

73

The percentage of stateless people in Lebanon, who are not of Palestinian origin, born to a Lebanese mother, according to a 2012-2013 study by human rights organisation Frontiers Ruwad Association

18,000

The number of marriages recorded between Lebanese women and foreigners between the years 1995 and 2008, according to a 2009 study backed by the UN Development Programme

77,400

The number of people believed to be affected by the current nationality law, according to the 2009 UN study

4,926

This is how many Lebanese-Palestinian households there were in Lebanon in 2016, according to a census by the Lebanese-Palestinian dialogue committee

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