A day after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to obliterate parts of Iran, a senior Revolutionary Guards commander said Wednesday the U.S. would not dare violate Iranian soil.
Brigadier General Amirali Hajizadeh, the commander of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force said, "Neither America nor any other country would dare violate Iranian soil”, local media reported.
Hajizadeh is a hardliner and a frequent critic of President Hassan Rouhani’s administration, who is known for his staunch anti-American declarations and opposed to the 2015 nuclear deal.
Tensions have spiked between Iran and the United States after the Islamic Republic shot down a U.S. drone they claim was flying over their territorial waters last Thursday. Washington says the drone was in international airspace.
U.S. President Donald Trump threatened on Tuesday to obliterate parts of Iran if it attacked "anything American", but later left the door open for talks.
The downing of the U.S. drone sent a message to other countries in the region to rely on their own abilities, a senior Iranian parliamentarian said on Wednesday, according to Mehr News Agency.
"Destroying the American drone was a very good message for other countries in the region for them to know to find native power by relying on their own national abilities," said Alaeddin Boroujerdi, a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy commission in Iran's parliament.
