Iranian Officials Say US Should Leave Region Or ‘Order Caskets For Soldiers’

The head of Iran’s parliamentary committee on national security and foreign policy threatens US forces in the Middle East during an interview on state television, after a US airstrike near Baghdad killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.

Hardline lawmaker and cleric Mojtaba Zolnouri tells state TV: “When the US is killing Iranian forces outside of Iran, the US must see its troops killed at its bases in the region.”

A senior Revolutionary Guard commander, Gen. Mohammad Reza Naghdi, says that “the White House must leave the region today or it must go to the market to order caskets for soldiers.”

The general adds: “We don’t want bloodshed. They have to choose by themselves.”

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned that a “harsh retaliation is waiting” for the US. Iran’s cabinet spokesman, Ali Rabiei, said in a tweet that Iran’s severe response won’t be far away.

AP