IRGC-QF Commander Qassem Soleimani. Photo: Wikipedia.

The chief of staff of Iran’s army warned on Thursday that the US was planning to assassinate the head of the Revolutionary Guards’ elite Quds Force, Iranian semi-official state news agency Fars reported.

“The Americans are desperate to hit [Quds Force Commander Major General Qassem] Soleimani to make them feel better about themselves,” Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Hassan Firouzabadi told reporters in Tehran on Thursday, without elaborating.

The Quds Force Soleimani commands is largely responsible for the extraterritorial operation of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, and has been operating extensively in the Syrian civil war on the side of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Firouzabadi stressed that the Iranian army continued to provide Soleimani with adequate protection. He accused Washington of being behind reports that Soleimani was wounded in fighting in the Aleppo province in Syria last November, reports that were supported by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and AFP, among others.