Iran affirms that the death of its general in Beirut “will never go unanswered”

Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araqchi, stated this Sunday that the death of the brigadier general of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in an Israeli attack in Beirut “will never go unanswered.”

“Without a doubt, this horrible crime of the Zionist aggressor regime will never go unanswered,” Araqchí, who is in New York attending the UN General Assembly, said in a statement.

“The diplomatic apparatus will also use all possible means, its political, diplomatic, legal and international capabilities to pursue criminals and those who support them,” Araqchí added.

The head of Iranian diplomacy described the death of the deputy commander of operations of the military force, Brigadier General Abbas Nilforushan, as “a cruel and cowardly act” and an example of the “terrorist and criminal nature of the Zionist regime.”

Nilforushan died on Friday in the Israeli attacks on Beirut in which the leader of the Lebanese Hezbollah militia Hasan Nasrallah, one of his main allies in the Persian country, also died.

Araqchí’s warning is the harshest issued so far by an Iranian authority, who until now had shown some caution without advocating a direct response from Tehran against Israel.

The Revolutionary Guard itself condemned the death of its soldier, but made no mention of possible revenge.

Other authorities have pointed to responses to the death of the Lebanese Nasrallah through the “Axis of resistance”, the informal alliance led by Iran and formed, in addition to Hezbollah, by the Palestinians of Hamas, the Houthis of Yemen and Islamic militias of Iraq.

A complete contrast to the death of seven members of the Revolutionary Guard at the Iranian consulate in Damascus in April, in an attack attributed to Israel, and after which calls for revenge multiplied.

In retaliation, Iran launched hundreds of missiles and drones against Israel in mid-April, the first time that Tehran directly attacked Israeli territory, in a bombardment that, despite its spectacular nature, barely caused any damage.

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