Major General Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, the chief of staff of Iran's Armed Forces (Archive)

Major General Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, the chief of staff of Iran's Armed Forces, underlined that Iran's goal to expel US troops from the region will continue until achieved.

Bagheri spoke on the third anniversary of Iran's missile attack on Ain Al-Asad, the biggest US occupation base in Iraq, which came a few days after the martyrdom of General Qassem Soleimani by the US. The Iranian missile attack was named Operation Martyr Soleimani.

According to the major general, the "terrorist" act of assassinating Soleimani and his companions "took the nation of Iran, the Islamic nations and other nations in the world by surprise that how a government was able to target a guest of the Iraqi government in a drone attack in violation of all legal, political and international rules."

Bagheri continued that "it was clear that in such a situation, responding to the American terrorist act became the first demand of the Iranian nation and even the justice-seeking nations."

"The armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran also realized this rightful demand and prepared to strike and destroy the US Ain Al-Asad Base in Iraq, which was known as one of the planning bases for the assassination of General Soleimani," the chief of staff of Iran's Armed Forces explained.

"Therefore, on the morning of January 8, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Air Force destroyed the core in which the assassination had been designed and implemented after firing 13 ballistic missiles," the Iranian major general recalled.

Bagheri pointed out that Operation Martyr Soleimani was the first retaliatory measure and action that was able to tear down the US hegemony in the region and the world in an unprecedented way over the past 70 years.

However, Bagheri warned that the operation was just the beginning of the strategy of Iran and the Axis of Resistance to expel the US forces from the region, stressing that this goal will be pursued until achieved.

The Iranian Major General stressed that Iran and the Resistance Front still reserve the right to take revenge against the perpetrators of the assassination of Martyr General Qassem Soleimani, adding that this case "will remain open until the terrorists are punished."