European Trio to Be Held Accountable for Helping Israel during Iran’s True Promise Operation: Commander
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force said the three European countries that deployed their warplanes to defend the Israeli regime against a retaliatory operation staged by Iran will be held accountable.
“All criminals should know (this) that their measures and crimes have been chalked up to their accounts,” Brigadier General Esmail Qaani said on Wednesday.
“France, Germany, and the UK should not think that they deployed the planes that night and that the issue was over. Yes, that night was over, but they will be held accountable in due course,” he added.
The commander was addressing a ceremony held to mark 40 days since the martyrdom of the IRGC’s General Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi.
Haji Rahimi, Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, an IRGC Quds Force commander, and five of their accompanying officers were all martyred on April 1 in an Israeli terrorist attack against Iran’s diplomatic premises in the Syrian capital Damascus.
In retaliation, the IRGC targeted the occupied territories late on April 13 with a barrage of drones and missiles. The retaliatory strikes, dubbed Operation True Promise, inflicted heavy damage on Israeli military bases across those territories.
According to Qaani, the United States and the entire Western military alliance of NATO contributed all of their military capabilities toward defending the occupying regime against the Iranian operation.
“(Up to) seven to eight naval groups were deployed to the Black Sea to prevent the (Iranian) operation,” he said, adding that more than 200 aircraft were also scrambled across the region’s skies during the night of the operation.
The commander described the aerial expanse, where the operation was conducted, as “the most condensed spot in the world as far as (the issue of) air defense is concerned,” billing the operation as “unprecedented and historically unachievable.”
Qaani reminded that the Islamic Republic had previously informed various concerned parties about the pending operation.
“True Promise was an overt operation… The time of the operation was (already) clear as daylight to the Zionist regime and the United States,” he said, noting that the Islamic Republic “displayed its strength, steadfastness, and power to the whole world” during the operation.
“The (Operation) True Promise’s victory is not (simply) limited to the number of missiles and drones that reached the occupied territories,” the commander stated. “There are so many secrets within this operation that would take one a long time to analyze,” he added, Press TV reported.
Qaani hailed the role played by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei in the operation.
“Who in the world dares to take such a decision?” he asked, reminding that even the United States -- Israel's biggest ally -- had announced following the Israeli terrorist attack that it would not enter the fray.
The commander, meanwhile, advised regional and extra-regional countries to learn from the US’s inability to protect the Israeli regime during the Iranian operation, calling on them not to take much comfort in relying on Washington.
