"As a soldier, it is my duty to respond to your threats … If you want to use the language of threat … talk to me, not to the president (Hassan Rouhani). It is not in our president's dignity to respond to you," Soleimani was quoted as saying by Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency.  Soleimani's message can be taken as nothing less than a warning to the United States, and that warning is simple: stop threatening Iran or you'll provoke a response.

"We are near you, where you can't even imagine … Come. We are ready … If you begin the war, we will end the war," Tasnim news agency quoted Soleimani as saying. "You know that this war will destroy all that you possess."  But according to Reuters, Israel's Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said the fiery rhetoric of Soleimani was only "empty talk" because Iran is fully aware of "the strength and might of the U.S. military."

Trump had responded to supposed threats from Iran in a tweet a week ago.