Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has downplayed his American counterpart’s recent threat to target Iranian sites if Tehran took retaliatory action after the assassination of its top general, Qassem Soleimani, in Iraq. RNA - Trump's threat came after Iranian authorities said they would give a harsh response to the US strikes that led to the martyrdom of Lieutenant General Soleimani and the second-in-command of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, in Baghdad early Friday on President Trump's order.
"We have ... targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran” said Trump in a Saturday tweet while making a reference to the occupation of the former US embassy in Tehran in 1979.
Taking to his Twitter account on Monday, Rouhani reminded Trump of the crime committed by the US Navy back in 1988 in which the USS Vincennes fired missiles at an Iran Air Airbus A300B2 which was flying over the Strait of Hormuz from the port city of Bandar Abbas to Dubai, killing all 290 on board, among them 66 children.
Those who refer to the number 52 should also remember the number 290. #IR655
Never threaten the Iranian nation.
— Hassan Rouhani (@HassanRouhani) January 6, 2020
"Those who refer to the number 52 should also remember the number 290. #IR655," the Iranian president said.
He emphasized, "Never threaten the Iranian nation."
The Iranian president's tweet came on the same day that Brigadier General Kioumars Heydari, commander of the Iranian Army's Ground Forces, said the United States has been threatening the Islamic Republic for the past 40 years, stressing that Trump's recent threats against Iran are "nothing but a bluff."
"The US will soon receive a crushing response," Heydari told the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) in Tehran on Monday on the sidelines of special ceremonies to pay homage to Lieutenant General Soleimani.
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