TEHRAN: An Iran-US troop threat escalated on July 24 after Major General Ali Abdollahi announced a one-for-one retaliation rule targeting American service members.
Abdollahi commands Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, the country’s highest wartime military command. He described the threat as a “definitive and officially declared equation” governing the battlefield.
“For every Iranian civilian martyred, one American soldier will be killed,” Abdollahi said in a statement published by the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency. He also told US forces that Iran had prepared “free, direct tickets to hell” for them.
The statement presented the ratio as an operational policy. However, Abdollahi did not explain how Iran would determine casualty figures or enforce the rule.
His warning followed another round of US strikes inside Iran and Iranian attacks against American military assets across the Middle East.
US Central Command said its July 21 strikes targeted Iranian military operations centres, aircraft hangars and drone-storage facilities.
Read: US Strikes Iran Sites As Ceasefire Faces New Risk
The operation also struck maritime capabilities and logistics infrastructure, according to the official release.
Iran later claimed attacks against sites hosting American forces in Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait. However, US authorities did not immediately confirm casualties from the July 24 operations.
Read: US Strikes Iran as Doha Peace Talks Stall
The US military previously said an Iranian strike on a Jordanian base killed two service members. One other service member remained missing, while four required hospital treatment, the Associated Press reported.
