Iran’s top commander vows ‘harsher revenge’ against the US

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iran's top military commander has vowed for  “harsher revenge” against US targets in the region, pro-regime outlet Tasnim News  reported on Thursday.

The tensions between US and Iran rose dramatically after the US  conducted a drone attack in Baghdad on Friday,  killing Qasem Soleimani, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force. 

Speaking at an event in the central province of Asfahan, Iran’s top military commander,  Abdullah Araghi, promised that Iran will soon take “harsher revenge” against the US.

“The IRGC is a strong arm of the supreme leader” Araghi  added, saying that Soleimani, who led the Quds Force, responsible for Tehran's operations overseas,  for 22 years was an intelligent commander with the situation in the region "under his control."

The threats by Araghi come at a time when the situation in Iraq  seemed to be de-escalating.

Iranian leadership had signaled that it would no longer attack US bases in Iraq and that  revenge had been taken for  Soleimani's death, and US  President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that the US is ready to negotiate  with Tehran to stop the tension in the region and “work towards global  peace”. 

Soleimani’s death comes after months of piqued tension between  Tehran and Washington and their regional allies. Mysterious attacks on oil tankers, drone and missile strikes on Saudi Arabian oil facilities, the IRGC’s shooting down of a US spy drone in the Persian Gulf and repeated attacks on US bases in Iraq brought the region to the brink of war.

Last April, the US State Department made the unprecedented move of  designating the entire IRGC a foreign terrorist organisation (FTO),  accusing it of killing at least 603 American service  members in Iraq from 2003 until US forces withdrew from the country in 2011. 

The IRGC is accused of stoking regional instability through its involvement in  terrorist activities across the region, the State Department said. In a tit-for-tat move, Iran labeled the United States Central Command (CENTCOM)as a terrorist organisation. 

Tensions between Washington and Tehran have steadily risen since the Trump administration withdrew the US from the Joint Comprehensive Plan  of Action (JCPOA), otherwise known as the 2015 nuclear deal, in May  2018. Following a 180 -day wind-down period, the US imposed sanctions  that primarily targeted Iran's oil industry.

The US has been trying to decrease Iranian influence in Iraq through  a “maximum pressure” campaign of economic sanctions imposed  on Iran since mid-2018.

Iraq has been directly affected by the increased tensions, as the country hosts more than 5,000 US troops who are targets for Iran and  Iraqi PMF brigades functioning as Iranian proxies. There are more than  65 militias in Iraq with close ties to the IRGC, some of which frequently target Iraqi bases known  to host US troops.