- Khamenei strongly condemned US airstrikes on Iraq which killed 25 militants from Kataeb Hezbollah on Sunday night and refurted Trump’s claim that Iran ‘orchestrated’ yesterday’s embassy assault in Baghdad
- Thousands – many of them members of the Iran-backed militia – rushed the heavily fortified Green Zone
- Today photos emerged showing the scorched interior of the embassy’s secure entrance after it was set alight
- One militant had said: ‘God willing if this fire reaches inside the embassy, we will not spare a single employee’
- President Donald Trump’s reinforcements were engaged early Wednesday as tear gas was fired to disperse those who had spent the night outside the main gates. Several ambulances arrived to ferry the wounded
Iran’s supreme leader today hit back at the US and warned his country would not hesitate to strike after Donald Trump said Tehran would pay a ‘big price’ for Hezbollah’s assault on the American embassy in Baghdad.
‘I and the government and the nation of Iran strongly condemn this American crime,’ Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said of US strikes which killed 25 members of Kataeb Hezbollah in Iraq on Sunday night.
Thousands of Hezbollah fighters attacked the US embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday in retaliation for the airstrikes – breaking down the gate and setting the entrance on fire.
President Trump, who deployed 100 Marines to protect the site last night and sent another 750 paratroopers to the Middle East, has accused Tehran of ‘orchestrating’ the assault
And on Wednesday morning the Iran-backing militia attacked the embassy for the second day in a row, forcing the US Marines to fire tear gas at the fighters who set part of the embassy on fire again.
Video has also emerged of one fighter telling cameras that he hopes to kill all Americans inside the embassy during the attack. He said: ‘God willing if this fire reaches inside the embassy, we will not spare a single employee.’
Hezbollah finally ended their siege this afternoon and withdrew after laying siege to the embassy for 36 hours.
It comes after Trump last night tweeted: ‘Iran will be held fully responsible for lives lost, or damage incurred, at any of our facilities. They will pay a very BIG PRICE! This is not a Warning, it is a Threat.’
In response, Khamenei retweeted the post and said: ‘That guy has tweeted that we (the United States) see Iran responsible for the events in Baghdad and we will respond to Iran.
‘First of all, you can’t do a damn thing! This has nothing to do with Iran. Secondly, be logical… The people of this region hate America. Why don’t Americans understand this?’