Iran Vows Response to Israel’s Killing of Guards General

AFP/APP

Tehran: Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, declared that the recent killing of a senior Iranian general alongside Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in an Israeli strike on Beirut “will not go unanswered.” 

The strike, which targeted Hezbollah’s stronghold in the Lebanese capital, resulted in the death of General Abbas Nilforoushan, a prominent commander of the Quds Force, the foreign operations wing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

“This horrible crime of the aggressor Zionist regime will not go unanswered,” Araghchi stated, emphasizing that Iran would utilize all its political, diplomatic, legal, and international avenues to pursue justice against those responsible.

Iranian officials have condemned the killing of Nasrallah, whose militant group has been supported by Iran for years. Javad Zarif, Iran’s vice president for strategic affairs, added that a response “will occur at the appropriate time and at Iran’s choice,” noting that decisions would be made at the highest leadership level.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, expressed condolences for Nasrallah’s “martyrdom” and declared five days of public mourning.

Demonstrations erupted across several Iranian cities, with citizens expressing their outrage over the deaths of Nilforoushan and Nasrallah.

Ahmad Jannati, secretary of Iran’s Guardian Council, warned that Israel would “receive a forceful answer,” threatening the “destruction of the Zionist regime,” according to the Fars news agency.