“Daesh would have reached the heart of Europe had it not been for martyr Soleimani,” Ghalibaf said in a meeting with Swiss Ambassador to Tehran Markus Leitner.

General Soleimani, a military strategist who commanded the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, was assassinated in a U.S. drone attack on Baghdad’s international airport on January 3. Iran did not allow Washington go unpunished for its reckless and terrorist act by firing dozes of ballistic missiles at U.S. major airbase in western Iraq, shattering the image of the U.S. military.

‘Maximum pressure has failed’
Elsewhere, Ghalibaf referred to Washington’s cruel sanctions against Tehran, saying, “The U.S. imagines that it can create internal problems in Iran through these pressures but it is a wishful thinking."

“Today, Trump has understood that maximum pressures have failed to produce any result against Iran and the country’s economic situation will be much better in the next few months and next year,” Ghalibaf said, according to the Fars news agency.

Leitner, for his part, said Bern is keen to expand ties with Tehran.

Ambassador Leitner also said, “We are interested in developing parliamentary cooperation and ties between Iran and Switzerland.”