Gen. Hossein Salami, commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said on Monday that Iran will respond “decisively and destructively” to any act of U.S. “aggression.”
President Donald Trump ordered heavy airstrikes against Iran’s Houthi terrorist proxies in Yemen over the weekend.
“We warn our enemies that Iran will respond decisively and destructively if they carry out their threats,” Salami said in an interview with Iranian state media.
“We are not a nation to live in hiding. We are a valid and legitimate system in the world. We announce it if we attack anywhere,” he continued, apparently hoping his listeners would forget about Iran’s two illegal and unprovoked missile attacks against Israel in 2024.
The Houthis, a terrorist organization armed and supported by Iran, also launched missiles at Israel, in addition to nearly shutting down one of the world’s most important shipping lanes with terrorist attacks under the Biden administration.
Trump cited the weak response of former President Joe Biden when explaining why he ordered the use of “overwhelming lethal force” to end Houthi attacks on shipping in the Red Sea. U.S. warplanes on Saturday night struck Houthi positions near the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, which the rebels have occupied since 2014.
Trump said on his preferred online platform, Truth Social, that the Houthis have “waged an unrelenting campaign of piracy, violence, and terrorism against American, and other, ships, aircraft, and drones.”
“Joe Biden’s response was pathetically weak, so the unrestrained Houthis just kept going,” he said.
“Funded by Iran, the Houthi thugs have fired missiles at U.S. aircraft, and targeted our Troops and Allies. These relentless assaults have cost the U.S. and World Economy many BILLIONS of Dollars while, at the same time, putting innocent lives at risk,” the president wrote.
Trump added a warning to Iran: “Support for the Houthi terrorists must end IMMEDIATELY!”
“Do NOT threaten the American People, their President, who has received one of the largest mandates in Presidential History, or Worldwide shipping lanes. If you do, BEWARE, because America will hold you fully accountable and, we won’t be nice about it!” Trump told the Iranians.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei on Sunday “strongly condemned the brutal air strikes by the U.S.” as a “gross violation of the principles of the U.N. Charter,” while conveniently forgetting to mention what the U.N. charter says about terrorism and piracy.
“We will respond decisively to any aggression against Iran’s territorial integrity and its national security and interests. There is no doubt about this,” Baghaei said at his press conference on Monday.
Baghaei also complained that Trump sent “very contradictory” messages by saying he wanted to negotiate with Iran, but then imposing “extensive sanctions on various Iranian commercial and manufacturing sectors.”
On the other hand, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman tacitly admitted that pressure from Trump is making Tehran nervous about its illicit atomic weapons program. Baghaei said Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi would meet with Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), on Monday.
“As threats against Iran’s peaceful nuclear facilities have increased, it is natural for us to intensify consultations with the IAEA,” Baghaei said.
Contrary to the Foreign Ministry spokesman’s sunny talk about “ongoing engagement” with the IAEA, Grossi has complained for years about Iran’s secrecy, intransigence, and “completely unsatisfactory” compliance with its obligations to the U.N. nuclear watchdog.
Grossi voiced his criticisms again in an interview with Argentine media on Saturday, warning the Iranians are coming dangerously close to developing an illegal nuclear warhead.
Grossi said Iran’s nuclear program is “highly ambitious and extensive,” and he warned Tehran is enriching uranium to levels of purity “almost suitable for military use.”
“In Iran, we have a relatively controlled situation, though we are very close to the nuclear threshold,” he said.
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