Anti-LGBTQ Iranian Regime Promises Retaliation Against U.S.

The Iranian government, a notorious anti-LGBTQ regime, vowed retribution against the United States following the drone-strike assassination of a military leader.

Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, through the state-run FARS News Agency, promised "tough revenge" after President Donald Trump ordered a strike that killed a top Iranian general, Qassim Soleimani. First he ordered three days of mourning for Soleimani, who the ayatollah said "courageously fought for years against the evils and bandits of the world." The Iranian state media statement said Soleimani was martyred.

"The demise of our selfless and dear general is bitter, but the continued fight and achievement of the final victory will make life bitterer for the murderers and criminals," Khameini said.

Soleimani was killed while traveling with a convoy near a Baghdad airport and was believed to have been in Iraq supporting pro-Iranian Quds fighters, according to The New York Times.

Tensions between Iran and the U.S. have increased substantially under President Trump. The administration in May of 2018 withdrew the U.S. from a nuclear deal negotiated by President Barack Obama. That deal was controversial even among many supporters of Obama, largely because of Iran's anti-LGBTQ laws.

"Human rights violations persist all while the Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Khamenei publicly revels in the victory his diplomats achieved at the negotiating table," wrote John Duran, a current West Hollywood City Council member, in a 2016 contribution to The Advocate.

While Iran legalized gender-confirmation surgery in 2004, gays and lesbians risk execution there.