TEHRAN – Major General Qassem Soleimani reacted sharply on Thursday to the recent military threats against Iran by U.S. President Donald Trump, warning that the U.S. may begin a war against Iran, but it is Iran which will “end” it.

Soleimani, the chief of the IRGC Quds Force, advised Trump to stop talking to other countries, including Iran, like a “cabaret owner”.

“You threaten us with an action that is ‘unprecedented’ in the world. This is cabaret-style rhetoric. Only a cabaret owner talks to the world this way,” Soleimani remarked.

“You stripped the Red Sea – which used to be a safe sea – of security.” Speaking in the western city of Hamadan, he said Trump speaks with Russia, China, Europe and other countries like a “gambler” and this “breaks a nation’s dignity”.

Soleimani was reacting to Trump’s all-caps tweet addressed to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, in which he threatened the Islamic Republic with actions “the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before.”

The tweet came after President Rouhani warned the U.S. against its hostile approach against Iran, saying Washington should know that “peace with Iran will be the mother of all peace while war with the country will be the mother of all wars”.

Soleimani to Trump: I respond to you ‘as a solider’

The Quds Force commander said “as a solider” he responds to Trump.

“It is beneath the dignity of our president to respond to you. I, as a soldier, respond to you,” Soleimani further said, according to Press TV.

He also lauded Rouhani’s remarks, saying such comments boosts the society’s morale and unity in the face of the enemy’s psychological war.

U.S. failures evident in Iraq and Afghanistan

The senior general further reminded the United States, which is threatening military attacks against Iran, of its failures in Afghanistan and Iraq.

IRGC Quds Force chief says Trump speaks with Russia, China, Europe and other countries like a ‘gambler’ “What was it that you could do over the past 20 years but you didn’t? You came to Afghanistan with scores of tanks and personnel carriers and hundreds of advanced helicopters and committed crimes there. What the hell could you do between 2001 and 2018 with 110,000 troops? You are today begging Taliban for talks,” Major General Soleimani said.

The Iranian commander added, "Afghanistan was a poor country, what the hell could you do in this country that you are currently threatening us?"

“You arrogantly attacked Iraq with 160,000 troops and multiple times [military equipment] compared to what you used in Afghanistan, but what happened? Ask your then commander who was the person that he sent to me and asked ‘Is it possible for you to give us time [and] use your influence so that our soldiers would not be attacked by the Iraqi fighters in these few months until we exit this country?’ Have you forgotten that you provided adult diapers for your soldiers in tanks? Despite that you are currently threatening the great country of Iran? With what background do you threaten [us]?”

“You committed the most horrible crimes in Iraq, which were even unprecedented in the Middle Ages; [You] entered people’s houses with [your] tanks and ran over them. The Abu Ghraib prison scandal will be a disgrace for you forever, yet you threaten the Iranian nation?” he said.

‘Mr. Trump the gambler, know that we are near you, where you can't even imagine’

The general also said U.S. forces and military bases are within the reach of Iranian military forces.

“You are today begging Taliban for talks”. “Know that there’s not a single night when we sleep without thinking about you,” he said, adding, “Mr. Trump the gambler, know that we are near you, where you can't even imagine. We are the nation of martyrdom, we are the nation of Imam Hossein, you better ask. Come; we are ready. We are the man of this arena. You know that this war would mean annihilation of all your means. You may begin the war, but it is us who will end it.”

In Yemen, Soleimani said, the U.S.-backed coalition of Saudi Arabia and its allies has been incapable of making any gains against the country’s Houthi Ansarullah movement, which is both running state affairs and defending the nation against the Riyadh-led aggression.

‘Mr. Trump the gambler, know that we are near you, where you can't even imagine’ Soleimani went on to say that the U.S. and its allies are even helpless in the face of poor Yemenis.

“A mere organization is standing against you in Yemen, but it has emerged victorious in the face of the most advanced of your military equipment. What have you achieved over the past four years? You stripped the Red Sea – which used to be a safe sea – of security. You brought under fire Saudi Arabia and [its capital] Riyadh – which had not seen a single rocket fired at them for 100 years.”

The senior general further warned Trump against insulting the Iranian nation and president.

“Trump! You must not threaten our nation and must not insult our president… You must know what you are talking about; ask your predecessors and take advantage of their experiences,” General Soleimani emphasized.

“A war would mean annihilation of all your means” The senior military official also censured the U.S. for supporting the most hated anti-Iran terror group, called the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO), saying Washington failed to achieve anything by doing so.

The commander of the IRGC’s Quds Force said, “The U.S. had some grandeur in the past [and] when its fleet moved out, a nation fell apart. Have you now become attached to the Monafeqeen (hypocrites), who have been thrown in the trash bin of Iran's history? You have become attached to a vagrant woman, and show her in all [your news] networks; is your hope pinned on this? Is this all your power? You are aware of our power in the region and capability for [launching] asymmetrical war?”

On U.S. government’s sanctions against Iran, he said sanctions were imposed on Iran even during the imposed war (Iran-Iraq war), “but we emerged victorious in that deprived front where the enemy cowardly used chemical weapons.”

Soleimani said during that war, the enemy was seeking to “disintegrate our soil and today we are faced with an asymmetrical war.”

MH/PA