Trump warns Iran's supreme leader

WASHINGTON-Anadolu Agency

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Jan. 18 that Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei “should be very careful” about what he says.

“The so-called 'Supreme Leader' of Iran, who has not been so Supreme lately, had some nasty things to say about the United States and Europe. Their economy is crashing, and their people are suffering. He should be very careful with his words!,” Trump said on Twitter.

Earlier this month, Qasem Soleimani, the head of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps' (IRGC) elite Quds Force, was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad.

His death marked a dramatic escalation in tensions between the U.S. and Iran, which have often been at a fever pitch since Trump chose in 2018 to unilaterally withdraw Washington from a 2015 nuclear pact world powers struck with Tehran.

Khamenei, who bestowed the country's highest honor on Soleimani last year, vowed "severe retaliation" in response to his killing.

Iran's IRGC launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles against U.S. military and coalition forces in Iraq.