The commander of Iran’s regular army ground forces has threatened U.S. forces, saying the lives of American troops is in danger.
General Kioumars Heydari in a speech at Friday Prayers attacked the U.S. decision to designate the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization” and said that the Americans have inflicted an injury upon themselves by this decision. “I mean that they have put in danger the security of their own forces around the world, specially the CENTCOM forces”.
CENTCOM stands for Central Command, which covers the Persian Gulf, the Middle East, Eastern Africa and Central Asia.
At the same time, The Tehran Friday Prayer Leader threatened Israel, saying that if Iran’s Supreme Leader permits, “the IRGC will flatten Tel Aviv”.
Iranian officials have reacted angrily to the decision of the Trump administration in designating the IRGC as a terror organization. The U.S. has said for a long time that the elite Iranian military intervenes in the affairs of regional countries and supports terror groups around the world.
Heydari in his speech also claimed that “at the entrance of every ground forces’ base we have a sign counting down the days to Israel’s demise”.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif denied last December that no Iranian official has ever used “Death to Israel” slogan.
"Death to Israel" is globally recognized as one of the trademark slogans of the Islamic Republic.
