Iran government said at least 35 U.S. targets, including warships and Tel Aviv, have been identified for retaliatory strikes.
This is coming following the death of the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, General Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in a United States airstrike ordered by President Donald Trump.
Iranian General Gholamali Abuhamzeh, a Revolutionary Guards commander in the southern province of Kerman, made the retaliation attack threat a day after General Soleimani was killed at the Baghdad International Airport by the U.S. airstrike.
Iran president Hasan Rouhani vowed to avenge the attack by U.S Donald Trump and the latest threat has been confirmed by General Gholamali Abuhamzeh, the commander of the Guards in the southern province of Kerman.
Targets identified by Iran include ships in the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and Tel Aviv. Abuhamzeh also added that vital American targets in the region had been identified a ‘long time ago’.
‘The Strait of Hormuz is a vital point for the West and a large number of American destroyers and warships cross there … some 35 U.S. targets in the region, as well as Tel Aviv, are within our reach,’ he said, according to Reuters.
Vowing vengeance for Soleimani’s death, Iranians raised the blood-red ‘flags of revenge’ and hoisted it above the important Jamkaran Mosque which is on the outskirts of the holy city of Qom, about 100 miles south of Tehran.
The red flag display is seen as a clear warning the Islamic Republic is ready to fulfil its worrying pledge to strike back at America and Donald Trump.
Written across the “war flag” were the words: “Those who want to avenge the blood of Hussein”.
Red flags in Shiite tradition symbolise both blood spilled unjustly and serve as a call to avenge a person who is slain.
A retaliation attack from Iran could be seen ‘within weeks’ either at home or abroad, a senior congressional staffer told Time.
The staffer said: ‘There is no indication that there is going to be a de-escalation in the near future. The only question is how bad is the retaliation going to be and where and what is it going to hit.’