Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has threatened the United States with ‘jihad’ after an American drone strike killed Qassem Soleimani, the chief of Iran’s elite Quds Force.
“All Enemies should know that the jihad of resistance will continue with a doubled motivation, and a definite victory awaits the fighters in the holy war,” Khamenei said in a televised statement.
In his Friday’s sermon, Khamenei vowed revenge for the slain terrorist, saying, “this is the time to clear the region from these insidious beasts.” The chants of “Death to America” followed the weekly Islamic prayer.
Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Iran-backed terrorist group Hizbollah, which operates in Lebanon, also joined in the Iranian call to jihad, urging “all resistance fighters worldwide” to avenge the killing of the top Iranian commander.
Soleimani, considered to be one of the most powerful figures in the Iranian regime, was the chief architect of Iran’s network of terrorist groups across the Middle East. The head of Quds Force, the elite wing of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was responsible for the killing of hundreds of American servicemen and women in Iraq, the U.S. Defense Department confirmed. At the time of the attack, he was “actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region,” the Pentagon disclosed.
Soleimani’s Quds Force is tasked with carrying out terrorist operations beyond Iran’s borders, propping up pro-Iran regimes, and building proxy terrorist militia. For two decades, he was in charge of Iran’s foreign intelligence and terrorist operations. “The killing of Qassim Soleimani is one of the biggest developments in the Middle East for decades – it far eclipses the deaths of Bin Laden or Baghdadi in terms of strategic significance and implications,” the UK newspaper Telegraph noted.
Iran’s allies, Russian and China, condemned the U.S. anti-terror operation, calling all sides to exercise restraint, “especially the United States.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry offered glowing praise for the slain terrorist: “Soleimani served the cause of protecting Iran’s national interests with devotion. We express our sincere condolences to the Iranian people.” His killing “was an adventurist step that will increase tensions throughout the region,” the Russian news agencies RIA Novosti and TASS reported citing Foreign Ministry sources.
The response from the EU and European leaders was muted, with Germany and France calling for “easing” of the tensions and “deescalating” the situation.
The French TV channel EuroNews reported the European response the U.S. counter-terrorism strike:
The first European country to react to the killing of Soleimani is France. The country’s deputy minister for foreign affairs, Amelie de Montchalin said on RTL radio, “we are waking up to a more dangerous world. Military escalations are always dangerous.” She added that “escalation is underway.”
Montchalin indicated that urgent reconciliation efforts are being launched behind the scenes. French President Emmanuel Macron and his foreign minister were reaching out to “all the actors in the region,” she said.
The British government is urging caution, saying “further conflict is in none of our interests.””
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab stated that the UK has “always recognised the aggressive threat posed by the Iranian Quds force led by Qasem Soleimani.“
The statement does not explicitly endorse or condemn the actions of the U.S., a major British ally.
Germany says the situation in the Middle East has reached ” “a dangerous escalation point” and that conflicts in the region can only be resolved diplomatically.
German government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer characterised the U.S. move as “a reaction to a “whole series of military provocations for which Iran bears responsibility,” pointing to attacks on tankers and a Saudi oil facility.
The drone strike that killed Soleimani also took out Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the commander of Iran-backed Kataeb Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated terrorist group. The terrorist group was behind the storming of the U.S. embassy in Baghdad on Sunday. The terror outfit also carried out a recent rocket attack at a U.S. military base in northern Iraq, killing one American civilian contractor and injuring several soldiers.
Hours after the strike, Iran was busy regrouping its terrorist network in the region. Iranian leader Khamenei appointed Esmail Qaani (Ghaani) as commander of Quds force to replace the slain terrorist.
Cross-posted from Legal Insurrection.
CogitoErgoSum says
Would love to see the Iranians rejoicing in the streets when this guy is gone. The day draws closer.
william carr says
I believe secretly they are. Nothing happens in Iran (apart from anti government protest) without the organisation of the Mullahs
Ade Fegan says
What’s “supreme” about him ?
FYI says
He’s a supreme chicken..available for roasting….
keya says
Lol!
Templer says
Like suprem Husain insanity and know dead like cdafey brown bread a suprem place in hell for a jihades
Jim Sheffield says
Must mean inner struggle.
PRCS says
Ha!
My first thought, too!
Trick_or_Treat says
About as ‘supreme’ as their detestable qur’an is ‘holy’!
mortimer says
He will be ‘supremely’ hanged from the lamppost when the people of Iran overturn the mullahocracy.
The mullahs who don’t leave Iran now will be unable to leave when the revolution starts. Islam is discredited in the eyes of most Iranians.
william carr says
Most Iranians? That is bold. maybe 50%.
Phil Copson says
“….What’s “supreme” about him ?”
————————————————
The Supreme Loser….
keya says
Now the likes of Ilhan Omar and Ratshit Tlaib will join forces with the Ayatollah
PRCS says
Ratshit Tlaib
Heh!
Charlie says
If they do anything really stupid, they’ll need truck loads of urns.
Infidel says
So what exactly have they been doing all this while – from the 1979 embassy capture to the killing of an American last week? And if they’re such tough guys, why don’t they launch their own attack on US troops, be it either in Iraq, or across the Gulf, at CENTCOM in Qatar, or US bases in Emirates or Kuwait?
Westman says
Bu, Bu, but JIHAD is a personal internal struggle, says CAIR and Muslim apologists. Kamenei is threatening the US with his “internal struggle”?? Oh, my!…I fear we may have been lied to…..
william carr says
Strange is it not that according to mainstream media and many comments (not here) the Iranians were sitting innocently by, and were aggressively attacked. How quickly people forget inconvenient facts
Ashley says
I like to think I’m fully aware of the fear-mongering perpetrated by the MSM, but this spooked me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYz5BOLdYhY
Sure…an attack can happen at any time, anywhere, for any “reason.”
But this “feels” dire.
CogitoErgoSum says
Once upon a time Americans felt they had nothing to fear but fear itself. Maybe some still feel that way but ABC News can’t get as many viewers if they report that. They want to feed the fear within you to keep you watching and waiting for more as you get addicted to the adrenaline rush you feel each time they scare you.
Wellington says
Vows jihad? So what? Buttlims vow jihad for even cartoons or naming a Teddy Bear “Mohammed.”
Same old same old. Yawn.
Jihad sucks. Well, for that matter, all of Islam does.
gravenimage says
Yep.
mortimer says
Vows jihad? Huh? It seems that they vowed jihad since Ayatollah Khomeini seized power.
“Islam makes it incumbent on all adult males, provided they are not disable or incapacitated, to prepare themselves for the conquest of countries so that the writ of Islam is obeyed in every country in the world…But those who study Islamic Holy War will understand why Islam wants to conquer the whole world.” -Ayatollah Khomeini
“Killing is a great Divine gift.”
– Ayatollah Khomeini, Winds Of Jihad, 21 January 2012.
Westman says
It seems that the Muslim “scholars” who rise to the top in Iran are supremely ugly inside and out. To borrow from Rodney Dangerfied, when Khamenei was born, the doctors should have taken one look at him and spanked his mother.
Wellington says
Always enjoyed Dangerfield’s humor, Westman, so thanks for that. I believe it was Dangerfield who made up the joke, “I went to a fight the other night and a hockey game broke out.”
Geoffrey Britain says
Khamenei’s next…
Gork says
Tell him to wear something ceramic or metallic that identifies him. He might need it.
gravenimage says
Iran’s Supreme Leader vows jihad for Qassem Soleimani’s killing
………………….
Yeah–because they’ve been vowing peace and friendship up until now…sarc/off
And good to hear from Jihad Watch contributor Vijeta Uniyal again.
CogitoErgoSum says
Their Jihad against us is approaching 1,400 years now. Their vows of peace and friendship are meaningless. They know it. We should know it too but a surprising number of us have yet to learn. It’s a long war.
Demsci says
NOW, the great leader vows Jihad. Only now? The ayatollahs and supporters have shouted “death to America” for 40 years! Also when Democrats Carter, Clinton and Obama were in charge. Perhaps they were even more angry at America then because of it’s soft attracting power to their own citizens, complete with a liberal appeasing harmless non provoking president. At least now they counter a president who gives them a reason and arguments to hate, vilifie and threathen him.
Would the great leader of Iran be all friendly to the US with Biden or Sanders or Warren, if they became president, then rejoined the JCPOA? Maybe for a short while, but the endgame for the Iranian leaders will still be extremely antithetical to America. With extreme violence included once the Iranian leadership gets its hands on nuclear bombs in combination with ICBMs. Remember, they broke with America when Jimmy Carter, this “innocent lamb”, was president of the US. Their battle is with all America stands for, already 40 years and counting.
CogitoErgoSum says
America stands for freedom. We will not be slaves to any man or to any god. We trust in God but we will not be His slaves. Our God is okay with that. Their god is not.
elee says
Millions for defence, not a penny for tribute. Some yank said that once before.
Savvy Kafir says
That was a popular slogan in the early 1800s, when Americans decided they had had enough of Barbary pirates preying on our ships and enslaving our sailors, unless the right palms were greased.
Trick_or_Treat says
YAWN…..(now why was I expecting this shit – or that other loudmouth, Rouhani – to come out with that line?)
Could be these two mouths will be shut, permanently, very soon, …even any minute from now. ??
abad says
Time for Iran’s mullahs to go bye-bye
kirk says
Sadly they are kicking our ass through political and population jihad, we never learn
Cicero says
Yes they are kicking our ass through other means such as unlimited Islamic immigration through all
channels as well as through unlimited demographic explosions swell as the democratic political process
The Persian people are a cultured civilisation having been throttled to near extinction by Islam The West ought to be assisting the Persian people through exercising soft power. Where is this narrative?
I do nit think that USA gave a coherent account for the rationale in undertaking this decisive and as yet unproven step.
We are pursuing the Shiites But not takling any account or notice of the numerically stronger and equally fanatical Sunni communities of which there are now 57 Sunni Islamic nations. They are infesting and burrowing deep into the Western and European countries growing ever so strong with every birth and conversion.
In the meantime the USA is steadily depleting itself whilst the crafty Sunnis are just waiting and biding their time
Infidel says
Please stop calling it Persia – that country died in 651AD, when the Arabs overran it. It’s been Iran ever since
Carson says
Time to target Supreme Leader
Wellington says
Beautiful sentiment.
JHL says
Always their violent ideology. Nothing else. A caliphate as a world ruler would lower the world into the lowest rung of hell.
Infidel says
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1213593965838163968
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1213593974679769093
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1213593975732527112
Jim says
“Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has threatened the United States with ‘jihad’ after an American drone strike killed Qassem Soleimani, the chief of Iran’s elite Quds Force.”
Is everyone in the Iranian government and military now going to have a “personal struggle”? And how will that be a threat to the United States?
mortimer says
Yes, they will all practice personal jihad by defending themselves against the Iranian counterrevolution. Once the counterrevolution starts, it will be so popular that it will be unstoppable. Top military commanders in Iran should make a coup d’état to save the country from massive bloodshed and kick the damn ayatollahs out of power, try them and put them all in jail where those arch-criminals belong.
PRCS says
If he’s referring to this jihad–we’re screwed.:
‘SODOMY JIHAD’ – That’s my jihad, what’s yours?
https://barenakedislam.com/2013/12/15/sodomy-jihad-thats-my-jihad-whats-yours/
tim gallagher says
I agree with the comments up above about how there has always been jihad and fatwas and all the other Muslim crap. That’s all that Islam is ever about, hatred for non-Muslims and threats of violence, throughout it’s sorry 1400 year history. The main thing I notice about these Muslim leaders is how big they talk all the time. They always spend their time making over the top threats, usually in the most over the top type of language. I think they are the biggest bullshit artists around. Always full of really big threats like this current jihad threat. I do wonder whether these Neanderthal type mullahs are sensing that they may not be in power for much longer, but rather off to hell.
PRCS says
Oh, my.
That gives Neandertall’s an unwarranted bad rap!
tim gallagher says
That’s true, PRCS. But it is hard find any descriptions ( to express the anger and contempt I feel) which are suitable for some of these throwback 7th century Muslim types. For example, if you call them Muslim maggots, well, that insults maggots, which are far nicer creatures, and it is the same with whatever comparison you make. Neanderthals were probably far more pleasant and far more moral beings than the revolting mullahs of Iran. Any comparisons we try to make do, as you say, give other beings, whether Neanderthals or maggots, a “bad rap”.
PRCS says
Good points.
BTW: are you personally affected by the fires?
tim gallagher says
PRCS, on these fires, this will be a long comment. I am fortunate enough not to be affected by these terrible bushfires here in Australia. I live out on the edge of one of our biggest cities. I enjoy going for quiet walks in an area of bushland which is only a twenty minute drive from where I live, but I live in a suburban area. I often see wallabies and kangaroos, lots of snakes, etc, in the area of bush where I go for walks. There have been bushfires in the Blue Mountains which has sent extraordinarily smoke-laden air into the area where I live. On a few days, it has been at a toxic level. I am very familiar with some of those seaside towns, such as Batemans Bay and Narooma, which have really copped it from the fires, as I used to go for holidays in Narooma years ago. The scale and ferocity of these fires has been staggering. There has been the worst drought I can remember along the east coast of Australia and inland and everything is unbelievably dry and there seems to be a bad situation with overgrown vegetation in many national parks ( the influence of greens is what many people are saying) and such like, and the fires just seem to be going on and on in a huge number of areas. There is really no answer except for rain. I am as stunned by what I am seeing anyone. The news footage of darkness in the middle of the day has been horrendous. Australia’s governments have had some slack policies. For example, the last big dam for Sydney, a huge city, was built way back in 1960. They built a desalination plant a few years back. However, a few million people have been brought into Australia and into Sydney alone. I am beginning to think we could run out of water. Several inland towns have run out of water. What a way to live. They have water tanks bringing water to them. My solution may be to clear out and head for north Queensland where they get monsoonal rains every year. I’ll probably not do anything at my age, almost 70 years old, and I have never been a catastrophist, but we really could run out of water due to government’s failure to plan ahead and build more dams, etc. Sydney’s Warragamba dam is down to around 43% capacity at the moment. To sum up, these fires are horrendous and on and on they go.
Infidel says
Tim
Glad to hear that you’re safe. Yeah, settling in Queensland does sound like a better idea than NSW or Victoria. Or maybe move south to Tasmania
tim gallagher says
infidel, thanks for the comment. I can’t stand cold weather, so Tasmania is definitely out for me. A couple of people I know have suggested Tasmania, but they quite like cold weather and are considering going there themselves. It is strange to be thinking this way, but there has been a failure to look ahead, especially when it comes to necessities of life, such as water. Bring in millions of more people by all means, but build the dams, etc first. In the big cities, many people are really sick of the traffic congestion, very crowded hospitals, etc. Things seem to have become worse very quickly. I am mostly not in the traffic very often, but, in Sydney, probably the same in Melbourne, if you do end up in peak hour traffic, it is terrible. In reality, I almost certainly won’t go anywhere. When you have lived somewhere for a long time and your friends and family are there, that’s where you stay. The dislocation involved in going anywhere else is too great.
PRCS says
Glad to hear you’re not in imminent danger from those fires, Tim.
BTW: we went to different High Schools together. I’ll be 70 in July!
My wife and I lived in the San Francisco Bay area (Hayward, to be exact) for a dozen years.
Though a surprise to many, Australians introduced eucalyptus trees to California during the mid 19th century California Gold Rush period and there are about a gazillion eucalyptus trees in some areas of California–Oakland for example.
https://www.kqed.org/news/11644927/eucalyptus-how-californias-most-hated-tree-took-root-2
The 1991 Oakland Firestorm was fueled, in great measure, by those trees.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakland_firestorm_of_1991
So, I’m aware how quickly those fires spread.
I do hope the current OZ fires will be brought under control soon.
Sad about Lewis–the Koala that lady rescued a few weeks ago; but apparently just one casualty among the human losses and–reportedly–a half billion critters.
gravenimage says
PRCS, I thought that you had lived in the bay area before.
tim gallagher says
Thanks for the reply, PRCS. Yes, there’s no doubt eucalyptus trees do burn ferociously. I think it was last night on the TV news, Prime Minister Morrison said that the fires will go on for months, which I think is pretty much what everyone knows to be the case by now. Unless there was really heavy rain, and none is predicted for a while, the fires are so immense in the thick areas of bushland that they will just roll on. The fire fighting resources are naturally put into trying to protect the towns and some farming areas. People who live in suburban areas like me are not really in the firing line. I enjoy nature and animals a lot, but I have said many times to people I know that there is no way I would want to actually live out in the bush. It is too dangerous when these bushfires occur. I do have a brother who does live in a bushland area, but he has avoided trouble this time around. He was worried for a while there but they got good rain in his area. The other problem I mentioned, the failure to plan ahead for enough water for the rapidly increased population out here, is something people (probably including me) are just beginning to wake up to. Australians have been famous for being laid back and having a “she’ll be right” attitude, but this type of attitude may result in some big problems for us. The koalas are in big trouble and not just from the fires. They are losing a lot of their habitat because of housing developments in many areas, which wipe out the particular eucalyptus trees they need to live on. I read something the other day about how koalas can only eat the leaves of 40 of the 200 or so types of eucalyptus trees in Australia. Being close to 70 years old is OK so far. A few health problems and, sometimes, I do feel about 100 years old, but it’s mostly OK because I’m mostly pain free. Just to finish on the fires, the rebuilding after all this destruction is going to be a gigantic task. Lots of agriculture and tourist businesses gone, etc.
PRCS says
Yes, GI, as noted; Hayward.
Moved to So. Lake Tahoe in ’92.
elee says
He kills 600 yanks & the world exxpects America to do what, pay him jizya with humiliation?
elee says
Hey Persians, if you consider that you can force an enemy to send you to 70 virgins and boys like pearls for eternity………consider America your travel agent. Book your passage now.
Neil Morris says
That’s hilarious! Thanks !!
Savvy Kafir says
72 virgins. Muhammad — I mean Allah — was very specific. Apparently He wasn’t sure that 70 celestial sex dolls was enough of an inducement for His gullible dupes. But 72?! Now we’re talkin’!
gravenimage says
+1
libertyORdeath says
Doesn’t the esteemed Ayatollah know that jihad is a peaceful inner struggle??? Sounds a little “islamophobic” to my delicate senses.
JDow says
So in what way, precisely, does this change the status quo ante?
{^_^}
Ren says
Iran’s supreme leader will have Soleimani’s fate if he vows jihad.
Fred. says
Is it just me or is Iran’s “supreme” leader just a one trick pony?
gravenimage says
Yep. “Death to…!” is pretty much it.
E T says
I cannot help but wonder if Khamenei’s ten year old bride tells him what to say.
janwog says
Islamist worship idols like Qassem Soleimani and Khomeini
unbeliever1 says
Whatever became of Iran’s bold plan to send warships to the Americas?
Bezelel says
Escalation means Iran is finally getting consequences for waging their constrictor jihad. Sometimes the Lion has to show the hyenas who’s boss. Komeanie is sleeping with one eye open now. Maybe a tall glass of warm camel piss before bed will help.
Lulu says
Bring it bitch! You are a disgusting POS…you and your “people” need to be removed from this Earth. YOU with your barbaric ways…you live exactly as you did 1,400 years ago. Your beliefs are disgusting to say the least! BE GONE!!
Cicero says
The tone of this post is striking both in its crass crudeness and hatred. By all means hate the mullahs who not only in Iran but also in America and Europe guide and impose their paranoid view. Iran is no exception to this . However please do not hate and wish extinction of the Persian people . Note I say “Persian” and not “Iranian”
Infidel says
The Persian people were Zoroastrians, and had their own script in their language. Once the Arabs conquered, they embraced Islam as well as the Nastaʿlīq script for their language, they ceased to be ‘Persian’ and became Iranian.
I use the Civilization games convention here: Persian for the country led by Cyrus the Great, Darius I, Xerxes, Darius II as well as the Parthians and the Sassanids. And Iranian for the country once it was Islamized – from Saman Khuda to Ayatollah Khamenei
Valkyrie Ziege says
; Again, their “weapons-of-mass-destruction” are everyone of their insane followers.
Get It? Obviously. Say Good-Bye, Muhammadism, You Won’t Be Missed.
Don Ameche says
Correct me if I’m wrong. But Iran has been waging Jihad against America is some form or other since 1979…. unstop !
Walter Sieruk says
Those statements by the “supreme leader” of Iran about taking vengeance against America for the death of Soleimani only proves from the officials of that “mullah tyranny the old saying to be true.
The saying is that “Evil is always looking for an excuse.”
OLD GUY says
It would be absolutely wonderful if the Iran people would take their country back from the islamic leadership/dictatorship that they live under. The people from Iran are wonderful people in general as is true for must people. The problem is the leadership and the criminals they draw around them. Iran was a progressive country with freedom of speech, arts and opportunity for its citizens not that long ago. The criminal islamics need to be stoped world wide, the sooner the better for everyone.
E T says
I wonder if Jimmy Carter sleeps soundly.