Iran’s top leader vows “reciprocal” strike at U.S. for killing senior commander

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday said that the Islamic republic will strike a “reciprocal blow” at the United States for killing an Iranian senior commander in Iraq in January.

“Iran will never forget this issue, and will certainly strike a reciprocal blow at the Americans,” Khamenei was quoted as saying by the leader’s official website.

Khamenei made the remarks in a meeting with visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi on Tuesday.

A U.S. airstrike on January 3 killed Qassem Soleimani, former commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), along with an Iraqi militia commander, near the Baghdad International Airport.

In retaliation, the IRGC hit the U.S. base of al-Asad in Iraq on Jan. 8 with a wave of surface-to-surface missiles.

• Pentagon confirms U.S. killed senior Iranian commander

Iran executes CIA “spy”

An Iranian national was executed on Monday for “spying” for the United States and Israel, Iran’s state TV reported.

“The convict, identified as Seyed Mahmoud Mousavi Majd, had connections with the CIA and the Israeli espionage service Mossad, and provided them with intelligence on the Quds Forces of Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and whereabouts of Qassem Soleimani, the assassinated commander of the Quds Force,” according to the report.

• 7 rockets hit army base in Iraq’s Salahudin province

Source: MTI