Iran’s army commander-in-chief Abdolrahim Mousavi said on Sunday that the United State lacked the “courage to initiate” a conflict, in response to US president Donald Trump’s warnings to target 52 sites in Iran.
“I doubt they have the courage to initiate” a conflict in which the Americans threatened to strike 52 targets,” Mousavi was quoted by state news agency IRNA as saying.
On Saturday, Trump said that the US had 52 sites in Iran targeted and would hit them “very fast and very hard” if Tehran attacks American personnel or assets. His warnings came as a response to Iran’s threats of reprisals after the US killed Iran’s top army general Qassem Soleimani.
The Iran-allied Kataib Hezbollah militia group in Iraq warned on Saturday the Iraqi parliament as well as Iraqi Kurds to not pass a law requiring the withdrawal of American forces from the country, according to Hezbollah official website.
Also, the Iraqi parliament passed a bill to expel American forces from Iraq on Sunday.
Kataib Hezbollah has issued a statement earlier saying that wounded and grieving Iraqis are waiting for the parliament session on Sunday and its results, hoping that this session will be an Iraqi uprising for the dignity and blood of its people.
Referring to the Kurds, Hezbollah said “we know that some Kurdish forces tend to keep these forces (US troops) hoping for secession,” threatening to expose “traitors” and “prevent them from entering Baghdad and prevent dealing with them.”
On the ground two rockets had hit the area near Balad Air Base and the International Zone where coalition forces in Baghdad were being housed, the US military confirmed.
The international coalition in Iraq, said Iraqi Security Forces were investigating the incidents, adding that no coalition troops were harmed, although the rockets might have hurt Iraqi civilians.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressed his gratitude to Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after speaking with him following the American airstrike of top Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani.
“Netanyahu and I just spoke and underscored the importance of countering Iran’s malign influence and threats to the region. I am always grateful for Israel’s steadfast support in defeating terrorism,” Pompeo wrote on Twitter.
