Iran’s IRGC chief: Qassem Soleimani more dangerous in death than alive

Slain Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani is today a bigger threat to Iran’s enemies than when he was alive, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed on Thursday.

Brig. Gen. Hossein Salami said the enemy – a term often used by Iranian officials to refer to the US and Israel – believed that by killing Soleimani, Iran’s network of proxies would collapse, but “the resistance was revived by this spilled blood and the enemy retreated more than when Qassem was alive.”

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“As a martyr, Soleimani today acts stronger than when he was alive in defeating the enemy,” the semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted Salami as saying.

“This is how we defeat our enemies; even when they kill us, we defeat them in death.”

Soleimani, who led the Quds Force, the overseas arm of the IRGC, was killed in a US airstrike in Iraq on January 3, 2020, ordered by then President Donald Trump.

Iranian officials have repeatedly pledged to avenge Soleimani’s death.

Last month, a senior IRGC commander said Iran was seeking to kill former US officials, including Trump, for their role in the killing of Soleimani.

In response, the US State Department warned Iran that any attempt to harm US citizens, including those who served in the past, would be met with a strong response.

“Iran would test our resolve to protect our citizens at great peril. As the Administration has consistently made clear, the United States will protect and defend its citizens. This includes those serving the United States now and those who served in the past,” a State Department spokesperson told Al Arabiya English at the time.

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