IRGC rejects US ‘absolute lie’ on attacks on civilians

Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has warned the United States that Tehran will determine the nature of its response to any further acts of terror, dismissing as an “absolute lie” claims by Washington that it does not target civilian homes.

In a statement on Wednesday, the IRGC responded to recent statements by the US military claiming that they do not intentionally attack civilians and homes and denying responsibility for several assassination attacks targeting Iranian officials.

"We tell the US Central Command that, in the first place, your army's non-aggression against homes and civilian centers is an absolute lie," the statement read.

"Because, according to undeniable documentation, the attack on the homes of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution and several Iranian officials, as well as the aggression against the Minab school and the massacre of its students, are clear examples of terrorist and anti-human operations carried out directly by the terrorist American army."

The reference to the Minab school massacre, where a US Tomahawk cruise missile struck a girls' elementary school on February 28, the first day of the war, has become a central symbol of civilian casualties in the war.

According to Iranian officials, 168 children between the ages of seven and 12 were killed in that attack.

The IRGC underscored that the United States cannot distance itself from the actions of its allies.

"Secondly, the explicit presence and participation of the American army in a terrorist coalition makes that country directly and unequivocally responsible for all the coalition’s actions," the statement said.

"Therefore, we declare once again: whether the American army directly commits a terrorist crime or whether the brutal Zionist regime does so, the Islamic Republic will choose the reciprocal response."

The statement said Iran's threat remains valid, and that regardless of which regime or army carries out the assassination, the 18 companies named in the previous IRGC announcements will be targeted in retaliation.

That earlier warning named 18 American technology and artificial intelligence companies operating in the Persian Gulf region, including, among others, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Nvidia, Palantir, and Oracle, as legitimate targets due to their involvement in supplying AI and surveillance technology used by the US military and intelligence services against Iran.

The IRGC said it will target those firms in retaliation “for every assassination in Iran” starting on Wednesday at 8 p.m. Tehran time.

The IRGC had warned civilians to maintain a distance of at least one kilometer from facilities belonging to these companies.

The IRGC's latest warning comes as the US-Israeli war of aggression against Iran enters its second month.

Since February 28, Iran has conducted waves of decisive retaliatory strikes against US military installations throughout the region and Israeli positions in the occupied territories.

Iran had framed its operations as legitimate self-defense under international law, while accusing the US and Israel of committing war crimes through deliberate attacks on civilian infrastructure, including schools, hospitals, and residential areas.

The Minab school massacre and the targeting of Iranian leaders' homes have been repeatedly cited by Iranian officials as evidence of the enemy's terrorist methods.

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