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 By Paul HANDLEY Washington (AFP) Jan 3, 2020
President Donald Trump did Friday what previous presidents did not dare to do -- eliminate a top Iranian general who aggressively expanded Tehran's power while obstructing US efforts across the Middle East. Trump's predecessors thought killing Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force, would risk another war in the region while US troops were bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan. But after three years of vying with Soleimani's proxies with deadly results, culminating in this week's assault on the US embassy in Baghdad, the Pentagon decided that if it did not act, "we would be culpably negligent," Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley said. Soleimani was killed in a drone strike just outside the Baghdad airport shortly after flying in to meet with local Iran allies. The US had "compelling" information of looming threats from Soleimani's operations that were much greater in "size, scale, scope" than in the past, Milley said. "Is there risk? Damn right there is risk," Milley said. "The risk of inaction exceeded the risk of action," he said. - No small decision - Killing Soleimani was no small decision, said Max Boot, a national security expert at the Council on Foreign Relations. "His death makes him the highest-ranking foreign military commander assassinated by the United States since the shoot-down in 1943 of an airplane carrying Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto," the Japanese architect of the December 1941 Pearl Harbor attack, Boot wrote in the Washington Post. Yet neither president George W. Bush or Barack Obama was willing to do it. "What always kept both Democratic and Republican presidents from targeting Soleimani himself was the simple question: Was the strike worth the likely retaliation, and the potential to pull us into protracted conflict?" said CIA analyst-turned lawmaker Elissa Slotkin. Killing Soleimani "has been discussed going back well over a decade," said Gil Barndollar, a Senior Fellow at the Defense Priorities think tank. Yet even Israel, known for its decapitation strikes on enemy threats, decided it wasn't worth the risk of war, he noted. In 2007 Bush's special operations chief, General Stanley McChrystal, had a convoy carrying Soleimani from Iran into Iraq in his sights. "There was good reason to eliminate Soleimani," he wrote last year. But McChrystal held off "to avoid a firefight, and the contentious politics that would follow." General David Petraeus, the commander of US forces in the region in 2008, called Soleimani "truly evil." But the two generals communicated indirectly to address some problems inside Iraq, where the Iranian exercised massive political influence. "There was never an underestimation of the importance of his role," said Ned Price, a national security expert in the Obama White House. "His footprint also extends to the West," said Price, noting the Quds can operate in Europe, South America, and even the United States, where they allegedly backed a 2011 assassination plot against the Saudi ambassador. - Maximum pressure - Trump changed course in 2018, setting a "maximum pressure" sanctions campaign against Tehran and pulling out of the nuclear deal Obama crafted, which had calmed some of the bilateral tensions. The result has been a slow escalation of tit-for-tat actions, including over the past year attacks by Iran on oil tankers in the Gulf, shooting down a US drone, and a rocket attack on Saudi oil installations. Trump's policy essentially benefitted Iran's hardliners like Soleimani, said Barndollar. "That only further increased his domestic sway," he said. And his power mounted across the region: in the past few years Soleimani arguably set the political and military agenda in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. Will Fulton, an independent Iran expert, said that Soleimani was now likely seen as too dangerous. "His remit and reach has expanded, and perhaps the Trump administration decided Soleimani's influence and ability to shape regional events was too great a threat to leave unchecked," he said. - US politics? - Still, others think that Trump, facing a reelection challenge this year and expected to go on trial for abuse of power in the Senate this month, may have wanted to demonstrate his toughness to US voters. Analysts noted that earlier this week he tweeted about a notable foreign policy failure in the Middle East under Obama, the attack on a US mission in Benghazi, Libya that left four Americans dead. "I think there's a big element of domestic politics tied up in this as well,' said Michael Desch, a professor at the University of Notre Dame.
How the world is reacting to US killing of top Iran general The attack was praised by US President Donald Trump's Republicans and close ally Israel, but elsewhere there were sharp warnings it could inflame regional tensions. Following are some of the reactions from around the world: - 'Terminated' - US President Donald Trump said Soleimani was "terminated" when he was on the verge of attacking US diplomats but insisted that Washington is not seeking to topple Iran's government. But among Democrats, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the killing risks provoking a "dangerous escalation of violence". "President Trump just tossed a stick of dynamite into a tinderbox," his 2020 presidential rival Joe Biden said. - 'Aggravate situation' - "This action can seriously aggravate the situation in the region," Russian President Vladimir Putin said, according to a Kremlin readout of a phone conversation with French counterpart Emmanuel Macron. - 'Cannot afford another war' - UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned of the need to avoid war in the Gulf. "This is a moment in which leaders must exercise maximum restraint. The world cannot afford another war in the Gulf," a spokesman for Guterres said in a statement. - 'Remain calm' - "China has always opposed the use of force in international relations," foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said. "We urge the relevant sides, especially the United States, to remain calm and exercise restraint to avoid further escalating tensions." He said Iraq's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity must be respected. - 'Spark a devastating war' - Iraq's caretaker prime minister Adel Abdel Mahdi said the US strike, which also killed an Iraqi commander, would "spark a devastating war". "The assassination of an Iraqi military commander in an official post is an aggression against the country of Iraq, its state, its government and its people," he said. It was a "flagrant violation of the conditions authorising the presence of US troops" on Iraqi soil, he added. - 'Cycle of violence' - "The current cycle of violence in Iraq must be stopped before it spirals out of control," EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said in a statement. "The EU calls on all the actors involved and on those partners who can have an influence to exercise maximum restraint and show responsibility in this crucial moment." - 'Right' to self-defence - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Trump "for acting swiftly, forcefully and decisively" to eliminate the general. "Just as Israel has the right of self-defence, the United States has exactly the same right." - 'Will not be forgotten' - The Syrian regime condemned the killing and heaped praise on the Iranian general. The Syrian people "will not forget that he stuck by the side of the Syrian Arab army", Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in a letter of condolences sent to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. - 'Avoid aggravating situation' - Iran's regional rival Saudi Arabia cautioned against "anything that could aggravate the situation" while the foreign ministers of Bahrain and Qatar also called for "restraint." The Jordanian foreign ministry also called for efforts to be made to avoid an escalation. - 'Meting out punishment' - "Meting out the appropriate punishment to these criminal assassins... will be the responsibility and task of all resistance fighters worldwide," the leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah Shiite militant group, Hassan Nasrallah, said in a statement. "We will carry a flag on all battlefields and all fronts and we will step up the victories of the axis of resistance with the blessing of his pure blood." - 'Threaten peace and stability' - "Pakistan has viewed with deep concern the recent developments in the Middle East, which seriously threaten peace and stability in the region," the foreign ministry said. "Respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity are the fundamental principles of the UN Charter, which should be adhered to. It is also important to avoid unilateral actions and use of force." The foreign ministry in neighbouring India said: "We have noted that a senior Iranian leader has been killed by the US. The increase in tension has alarmed the world." - 'Against foreign intervention' - "It is manifest that the operation carried out by the US will increase insecurity and instability in the region... Turkey has always been against any foreign intervention in the region, assassinations and sectarian conflicts," the foreign ministry said. - 'Act with restraint' - French President Emmanuel Macron urged restraint after Soleimani's killing. In his telephone call with Putin, Macron said there should be no "new dangerous escalation of tensions" and "called on all the parties to act with restraint," the Elysee said. British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said London had "always recognised the aggressive threat" posed by Soleimani and his Quds Force. "Following his death, we urge all parties to de-escalate. Further conflict is in none of our interests."
Iraqi force says 'US strike' killed top Iran, Iraq commanders at Baghdad airport Baghdad (AFP) Jan 3, 2020 Top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani was killed in a US strike on Baghdad's international airport on Friday, Iraq's powerful Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary force has said, in a dramatic escalation of tensions between Washington and Tehran. The Hashed's deputy chief was also killed in the attack, the force added, which comes after a pro-Iran mob this week laid siege to the US embassy following deadly American air strikes on a hardline Hashed faction. "The deputy head of the Hashed, Abu Mahdi al-M ... read more
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