Iran’s Supreme leader Khamenei orders direct military retaliation on US interests, says there will be no proxy attacks

Following outrage in Iran over the US killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, and his subsequent three day state funeral which ends Tuesday, Iran’s Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called for a direct retaliation against the United States rather than relying on proxy attacks.

Khamenei, the Commander in chief of Iran’s Armed Forces, who was also a close friend of the killed Soleimani, swore to revenge the killing of Soleimani using the Iranian military, a startling departure for the Iranian leadership which had almost always cloaked its attacks behind the actions of proxies it had cultivated around the region since 1979.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, after shedding tears at Soleimani’s coffin, made a rare appearance at a meeting of the government’s National Security Council and said their revenge must be a ‘direct and proportional attack on American interests’, openly carried out by Iranian forces themselves.

On Tuesday, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said the country had lined up 13 ‘revenge scenarios’ in retaliation for Soleimani’s death.

”The Americans should know that until now 13 revenge scenarios have been discussed in the council and even if there is consensus on the weakest scenario, carrying it out can be a historic nightmare for the Americans,” Ali Shamkhani said. 

Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in Iraq in a U.S. drone strike on Friday was the leader of the Quds Forces of the Iran Revolutionary Guards Corps.