Iranian Revolutionary Guards Commander: Death Of All US Leaders Does Not Avenge Soleimani's Assassination

JAKARTA - The killing of all American leaders will not be enough to avenge the US killing of the top commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) or Iranian Revolutionary Guards, Major General Qassem Soleimani, two years ago, a senior commander of Iran's Guards said on Wednesday.

The United States and Iran are approaching full-blown conflict in 2020, after Soleimani's killing in a US drone strike at Baghdad airport, Iraq, which Tehran retaliated by attacking US bases in Iraq.

"Martyr Soleimani is a great character, so if all American leaders are killed, this will still not avenge his killing", a senior commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Pakpour, was quoted as saying by Iranian state media, citing Reuters on April 13.

"We must repay him by following Soleimani's path and through other methods."

The US administration under President Donald Trump said Soleimani was being targeted for planning future attacks against US interests. And, he is said to have helped coordinate attacks on American troops in Iraq in the past through proxy militias.

Pakpour's comments come days after US Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he did not support removing Iran's Quds Force, part of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), from its list of foreign terrorist organizations, as requested by Tehran to revive the nuclear deal. 2015.

Donald Trump abandoned the deal under which Iran had agreed to curb its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international financial sanctions. Iran responded by encroaching on its borders. Later, President Joe Biden aimed to restore it.

Nearly a year of indirect talks between Iran and the United States have stalled since March, as both Tehran and Washington blame each other for failing to resolve the remaining issues. One of the unresolved questions is whether the United States will remove the Iranian Guard from the terrorist list.

Washington has considered removing the IRGC from its blacklist of foreign terrorist organizations in exchange for Iran's assurances about curbing the influence of elite forces in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, critics who removed the IRGC from the list, as well as those who were open to the idea, said the move would have little economic effect as other US sanctions forced foreign actors to shun the group.

Iran's highest authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Tuesday his country's future should not be tied to the success or collapse of nuclear talks with world powers.