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And Major-General Qassem Soleimani has claimed that if the US starts a war, “Iran will finish it”. Mr Soleimani, who heads up the Quds Force of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards Corps, was reported by various Iranian news agencies as having made his comments during a speech in the city of Hamedan. He said: "As a soldier, it is my duty to respond to Trump's threats. If he wants to use the language of threat, he should talk to me, not to president Hassan Rouhani. "What could you have done against Iran in the past 20 years that you haven’t done already? At the end, the victory belonged to the Iranian nation.

"You know that this war will destroy all that you possess. You will start this war but we will be the ones to impose its end. Therefore you have to be careful about insulting the ian people and the president of our Republic." And in an apparent reference to acts of terror, he added: "You know our power in the region and our capabilities in asymmetric war. We will act and we will work." "You know that this war will destroy all that you possess. You will start this war but we will be the ones to impose its end. "Therefore you have to be careful about insulting the Iran people and the president of our Republic.

Major-General Qassem Soleimani has said Iran was a

US President Donald Trump hit out at Iran earlier this week

"Trump should know that we are nation of martyrdom and that we await him." He also said that the Red Sea was not secure while US troops were deployed in the area. Saudi Arabia said on Thursday it was temporarily halting all oil shipments through the strategic Red Sea shipping lane of Bab al-Mandeb after an attack on two oil tankers by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi movement.

Yemen, where a US-backed, Saudi-led coalition has been battling the Houthis for three years, lies beside the southern mouth of the Red Sea, one of the most important trade routes in the world for oil tankers. The state-run Mehr News Agency also quoted him as saying: "Ask your then commander about whom he sent to me to beg for coverage for the American troops against the attacks of Iraq’s Mujahideen Army until they could leave the country. "On what background are you exactly basing your threats?” “There is no need for Iran’s Armed Forces to get involved. I myself and the IRGC’s Quds Force are enough to face you as an adversary.”

Iran protests: Hundreds gather in Berlin and Paris calling for regime change Sun, January 7, 2018 Protesters gathered at Pariser Platz to show their support for the demonstrations in Iran and demand the release of political prisoners as well as the reinstatement of the Shah Play slideshow EPA 1 of 8 Iranians living in France protest against the Iranian regime

And in a further cryptic threat, he added: “Mr Gambler Trump! I’m telling you that we are close to you exactly where you wouldn’t think that we are.” Mr Trump's fiery tweet was prompted by a speech delivered by Mr Rouhani at the weekend, during which he warned the US "not the pull the tiger's tail" and said a confict between the two nations would be "the mother of all wars". In turn, Mr Rouhani may have been irked by US secretary of state Mike Pompeo's characterisation of his regime as a "mafia" state, as well as the US's withdrawal from the JPCA nuclear agreement and reimposition of sanctions on the Islamic republic.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has refused to respond to the comments