Several Iranian officials have bristled at Donald Trump’s mocking remarks about the slain commander Qasem Soleimani, calling his assassination in a 2020 US drone strike an act of terrorism that should have been avenged by killing American leaders.
On Thursday, during a Purple Heart ceremony at the White House, Trump mentioned Soleimani by name and called him “the father of roadside bombs.”
Immediately after, Trump scoffed, “Where is he? Where is he?” As the attendees burst into laughter, he asked again, 'Where is Soleimani?'"
“There is a simple answer to the question ‘Where is Soleimani?’ He is precisely where your gaze points — at the heights of heaven,” Mohammad Hossein Ranjbaran, an advisor to Iran’s foreign minister, posted on X.
During his first term as president, Trump authorized the 2020 drone strike in Baghdad that killed the senior Iranian commander.
“They killed Haj Qasem, and we should have executed all American leaders because Haj Qasem’s worth was far greater than that,” said Elias Hazrati, head of the Government Information Council.
“But since war was not our strategy, we let it go. Then they martyred our guest Ismail Haniyeh, and still, we chose patience and silence,” Hazrati added.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed on July 31, 2024, along with his bodyguard inside a military-run guesthouse in Tehran shortly after attending the inauguration of President Masoud Pezeshkian.
The killing of Qasem Soleimani sparked outrage among hardliners in Iran, who vowed to exact revenge against Trump.
