Iranian commander says killing of citizens will be met with US servicemember deaths

An Iranian military commander said Friday that the killing of every Iranian citizen would be met with the killing of a US servicemember, describing it as a formally declared battlefield policy, according to state broadcaster IRIB.

Maj. Gen. Ali Abdollahi, commander of Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, the country’s top wartime operational military command, said Tehran now regarded the measure as a “definitive and officially communicated equation” governing the battlefield.

“We consider the rule, whose operational nature we had previously demonstrated to the enemy, to be a definitive and officially communicated equation on the battlefield from this moment onward,” Abdollahi said.

“For every Iranian citizen who is martyred, one American servicemember will be sent to hell,” he added.

Abdollahi also warned US forces that Iran had prepared “free and direct tickets to hell” for them.

Regional tensions have escalated over the past two weeks after US President Donald Trump announced on July 8 that the ceasefire outlined in the Islamabad MoU was no longer in effect.

Since then, the US and Iran have exchanged strikes, with Washington targeting sites inside Iran, while Tehran says it has attacked US military facilities and equipment across several countries in the region.