Hassan Nasrallah, one of the top Iran-backed Hezbollah leaders, said that retaliation for the drone strike that killed Qassem Soleimani could not be taken out on American citizens.
Instead, Nasrallah said, the retribution needed to come in the form of attacks on U.S. military who are currently in the Middle East. The targets will be “all the U.S. military bases in the region, their warships, every single general and soldier in our lands,” Nasrallah said, according to The Washington Post.
After Soleimani was killed by a U.S. drone strike, Iranian leaders immediately promised to retaliate for his death against America. President Donald Trump returned in kind, vowing to target 52 Iranian sites — including cultural sites — if Iran strikes “any U.S. person or target.”
“They’re allowed to kill our people,” Trump said. “They’re allowed to torture and maim our people. They’re allowed to use roadside bombs and blow up our people. And we’re not allowed to touch their cultural site? It doesn’t work that way.”
These Media Posts will serve as notification to the United States Congress that should Iran strike any U.S. person or target, the United States will quickly & fully strike back, & perhaps in a disproportionate manner. Such legal notice is not required, but is given nevertheless!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 5, 2020
Nasrallah made the remarks at a ceremony in Beirut, Lebanon, to commemorate Soleimani’s life.
“We do not mean the American people,” Nasrallah said of the planned revenge. “There are many U.S. civilians in our region — engineers, businessmen, journalists. We will not touch them. Touching any civilian anywhere in the world will only serve Trump’s policy.”
“It is the U.S. military that killed Haj Qassem, and they must pay the price,” he added, using the honorific for Soleimani.
Since the strike that killed Soleimani, U.S. relations in Iran and Iraq have only gotten more complicated. On Sunday, Iraqi parliament voted to expel some 5,000 U.S. troops stationed across the country to combat ISIS. The vote is just the first step in removing the troops, but it was a significant sign of disapproval around the strike from the Iraqi government.
Experts have also warned Iran may conduct cyberattacks or attempt kidnappings and execution of U.S. citizens. The Department of Homeland Security has warned American officials to secure their personal computers and phones while simultaneously urging Americans to leave Iraq.
Both President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have said the strike was conducted on Soleimani to prevent an imminent attack being planned against Americans, though neither has provided evidence to support that claim.
