There will be a strong response from Iran if Israel tries to attack

Commander of the Central General Staff Khatam al-Anbiya, Major General Gholam-Ali Rashid, told www.khamenei.ir on Sunday that Iranian commanders would be ready to respond to any attack by Israel.

In the interview, Rashid said Iran's former counter-terrorism chief, General Qassem Soleimani, had achieved significant success in supporting insurgents in Lebanon, Iraq, Palestine, Yemen, and Syria.

 General Soleimani expressed hope that the governments of Iraq and Syria will be able to defeat the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group, adding that this is a very important step in the fight against terrorism.

General Rashid said former US President Donald Trump claimed responsibility for killing General Soleimani to make himself a "national hero".

But the Iranian commander said it has been proven that no one who has harmed the Islamic Republic can escape punishment and that those who killed General Soleimani will soon be punished. General Soleimani, commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), and their associates were killed in a US-sanctioned drone strike.

Both commanders are highly respected in the Middle East for their key roles in the fight against the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group, particularly in Iraq and Syria. Rasheed said it was important to respond to US and Israeli attacks on the country following the US military invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq in the early 1980s.

Iran's top commander said the CIA, Mossad, and British intelligence took advantage of the domestic chaos and lack of security in both countries to create ISIS, which has taken control of parts of Syria and Iraq.