At the funeral of Qassem Soleimani, his replacement as Qods Force commander, Esmael Ghaani, pledged that “giant steps will be taken in line with eradication of presence of the U.S. in the region”. A senior advisor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei asserted that “we will take revenge for the blood of martyr General Soleimani… [The] U.S. and its allies should know that if they keep going, Islamic Republic of Iran will turn West Asia into another Vietnam for them”.