Iran Revolutionary Guard Threatens Retaliation if US Launches Assassinations

Retired US General Had Called for Killings

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard General Amir Ali Hajizadeh today warned the US against attempts to assassinate any members of the Quds Force, saying that “if they kill one of us we will kill dozens of them.

The comments were immediate spun into a “threat” against the US, but were actually in response to testimony by retired US General Jack Keane, who told Congress that the US needed to start assassinating Quds Force members as part of a policy of large-scale escalation.

Keane was backed by former CIA agent Reuel Marc Gerecht, who also told Congress that the only way to get Iran’s attention was to “shoot somebody.” The comments come in the context of weeks of new threats by the US and Israel to attack Iran.

Assassination has been a hot subject recently, with US officials accusing the Quds Force of a bizarrely convoluted plot against a Saudi Ambassador, and the Iranian government complaining to the UN about US assassination of scientists.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.