Ieanian Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami said the US revealed its terrorist nature once again when it assassinated the hero of anti-terrorism campaign in the region, Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, and reminded the world that the terror attack should receive a global condemnation by every standard. RNA -In a phone conversation with his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar, Brigadier General Hatami said, “Once more, the Americans showed their terrorist face to the world.”
Iran is ready to give harsh response to any of the enemies' adventurous measures, he warned, referring to the assassination of IRGC Quds Force Commander Lieutenant General Soleimani by the terrorist army of the US at Baghdad International Airport on January 03.
“Soleimani’s martyrdom will not put an end to resistance but is a revival for the Resistance Front,” he added.
He called for all the regional countries and independent ones in the world to condemn the US’ assassination of the Iranian General.
Calling for regional stability, the Turkish minister Hulusi Akar, for his part, noted that no one will take advantage of tensions in the region.
He also called for the continuation of Iran-Turkey cooperation on mutual and regional issues.
Earlier on Thursday, Hatami had underlined that the recent retaliatory missile attacks against the US bases in Iraq were only a warning to Washington not to test Iran's military power.
"The American commanders who had been used to show to the public their hollow power by heavy fire against other countries, while those countries were in weak conditions, and against the defenseless nations, felt the scorching heat of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)'s missile power," General Hatami said, addressing a ceremony in Tehran on Thursday.
"I hope that the enemies never make a decision to test the Iranian nation's determination because what was carried out, was just a warning and a slap," he added.
On January 8, the IRGC Aerospace Force started heavy ballistic missile attacks on US Ein Al-Assad airbase in Southwestern Iraq near the border with Syria and a US operated airbase in Erbil in retaliation for the US assassination of IRGC Qods Force Commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani.
Ein Al-Assad is an airbase with a 4km runway at 188m altitude from sea levels, which is the main and the largest US airbase in Iraq. Early reports said the radar systems and missile defense shields in Ein Al-Assad failed to operate and intercept the Iranian missiles. Unofficial reports said the US army's central radar systems at Ein Al-Assad had been jammed by electronic warfare.
The second IRGC reprisal attack targeted a US military base near Erbil airport in Iraqi Kurdistan Region in the second leg of "Martyr Soleimani" reprisal operation.
Iraq said the attacks had not taken any toll from its army men stationed at these two bases. The US army had blocked entrance into Ein Al-Assad to everyone, including the Iraqi army.
It was the first direct attack on the US army ever since world war two.
The IRGC officials said none of the missiles had been intercepted.
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