Vows to \u2018strike a blow\u2019 to US in revenge for Soleimani\u2019s killing
\nTLTP
\nTEHRAN
\nIranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that the US will see further retaliation for the January drone strike on elite commander Qasem Soleimani, telling Iraq\u2019s premier that Tehran will resist American meddling in the region.
\nKhamenei met with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi in Tehran on Tuesday, the PM\u2019s first trip abroad since taking office in May. During the talks, the ayatollah stressed that the American presence in Iraq is an ongoing \u201csource of corruption and destruction,\u201d citing Soleimani\u2019s assassination earlier this year in Baghdad as a case in point.
\n\u201cThey killed your guest at your house and explicitly confessed to the crime,\u201d Khamenei said, adding that \u201cthe US and its agents are always looking for a power vacuum in the region to create chaos and pave the way for their intervention.\u201d
\nThe assassination of Soleimani, commander of Iran\u2019s elite Quds Force, skyrocketed tensions between Washington and Tehran, triggering an Iranian missile strike in retaliation and a rash of warlike rhetoric between the two sides. The strike also incensed Baghdad, as a top Iraqi militia commander was also killed in the blast. Iraqi lawmakers voted to expel US forces from the country, deeming the kill operation a clear violation of their sovereignty. While that move never took shape and has since stalled, Khamenei encouraged al-Kadhimi \u2013 who was not in office at the time of the strike in January \u2013 to renew the push during Tuesday\u2019s talks.
\nThe ayatollah also emphasized the need to expand Iran-Iraq relations \u201cin all areas,\u201d saying \u201creason, religion and experience\u201d required it, but warned of foreign forces that might look to disrupt improved ties.
\n\u201cOf course, the expansion of Iran-Iraq relations has opponents, led by the United States,\u201d he said, arguing Washington did not want to see an \u201cindependent, strong Iraq,\u201d but added \u201cin no way should we be afraid.\u201d
\nFollowing the sit-down with Khamenei, the Iraqi PM appeared at a news conference alongside Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, echoing the ayatollah\u2019s calls for improved relations and insisting he would not \u201callow any aggression or challenge to Iran\u201d to be launched from Iraqi territory.
\nThe efforts to strengthen the two countries\u2019 ties follows a much less amicable history, which saw Iran and Iraq fight a bloody war between 1980 and 1988, in which Baghdad tried to invade Iran with US backing soon after the Iranian Revolution that overthrew the country\u2019s monarchy.
\nThe top-level meeting comes as Washington continues its crippling \u201cmaximum pressure\u201d sanctions campaign on Iran, looking to completely dry up the country\u2019s oil exports and deprive the state of a vital source of revenue. The US has also pushed to extend an arms embargo on Tehran in recent weeks, a move Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said would effectively dismantle the 2015 nuclear deal signed between Iran and other world powers.
\nIn the event the US fails to persuade the UN Security Council to renew the weapons ban, set to expire this fall, Washington has vowed to invoke a \u201csnapback\u201d measure in the 2015 deal to reimpose all UN sanctions on Iran, despite unilaterally abrogating it in 2018. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Vows to \u2018strike a blow\u2019 to US in revenge for Soleimani\u2019s killing TLTP TEHRAN Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that the US will see further retaliation for the January drone strike on elite commander Qasem Soleimani, telling Iraq\u2019s premier that Tehran will resist American meddling in the region. Khamenei met with Iraqi Prime Minister […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134266,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-134254","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n