Tehran warned Tuesday that any attack on Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would result in a declaration of jihad, or holy war — as its military leader dismissed President Trump’s threat of strikes as “noise.”
As tensions mount over the Islamic Republic’s violent crackdown on anti-government protesters and threats of military action from Trump, Iran’s national security parliamentary commission said the country would be ready to conduct holy war if its leadership is threatened.
“Any attack on the Supreme Leader means a declaration of war with the entire Islamic world and must await the issuance of a Jihad decree by Islamic scholars and the response of Islam’s soldiers in all parts of the world,” the Iranian Students News Agency quoted the commission as saying.
The warning of holy war was echoed by Iranian Brig. Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi, who directly addressed Trump’s threats, calling them “noise” that Tehran does not take seriously, Iran International reported.
“Trump knows that if a hand is stretched toward our leader, we will not only cut that hand off,” Shekarchi said, “we will set their world on fire. This is not a slogan.”
It was Tehran’s latest threat against foreign intervention after weeks of warning that Iran would declare war, specifically against the US and Israel, if the Islamic Republic were attacked.
Shekarchi’s warning came after Trump directly bashed Khamenei over the anti-government protests that broke out in Iran over the last three weeks, which have resulted in thousands of deaths after Iran’s security forces were deployed to suppress the demonstrators.
“The man is a sick man who should run his country properly and stop killing people,” Trump said of Khamenei during a Politico interview earlier this week.
Trump added that Tehran’s leaders relied solely on repression and violence to govern the Islamic Republic, saying it was “time to look for new leadership in Iran.”
The president had vowed direct military intervention against the Islamic Republic if the killing of the protesters continued, with Trump easing his rhetoric after Iran allegedly said it would not execute 800 people arrested during the rallies last week.
Iran’s judiciary, however, made a U-turn days later, calling for swift trials and executions to take place as the regime attempts to reassert its control over the country.
With Post wires
