Soleimani, profoundly known as the mastermind behind the Islamic Republic’s vast network of proxies stretching from Iraq and Lebanon to Syria and Yemen has long been a controversial figure in Middle East. With his demise, the world has got a chance to restore peace and stability in the region.
According to media reports, Soleimani helped to shape Iran’s foreign policy and carry out covert offensive acts in the region what the Trump administration dubs ‘malign activity’ against US regional interests and allies.
About the killing of Soleimani, US President Donald Trump said, “Today we remember and honour the victims of Soleimani’s many atrocities, and we take comfort in knowing that his region of terror is over. Soleimani has been in acts of terrorism to destabilise the middle-east for last 20 years. But the United States take action which should have been done long ago. Then lots of life would have been saved.”
He also said, “We did not seek regime change. However, Iranian regime of aggression in the region including the use of proxy fighters to destabilise its neighbor must end and must end now. We took action last night (Friday) to stop a war; we did not take action to start a war. I have deep respect to the Iranian people. They are a remarkable people with incredible heart.”
Security experts, however, said the assassination of Suleimani will grow more conflict between Iran and US and warned that cyber-hostilities between the countries could escalate into true cyberwarfare.
Although the president insisted that he took the action to avoid a war with Iran, the continuing threats further rattled foreign capitals, global markets and Capitol Hill, where Democrats demanded more information about the strike and Mr Trump’s grounds for taking such a provocative move without consulting Congress.
Democrats also pressed questions about the attack’s timing and whether it was meant to deflect attention from the president’s expected impeachment trial this month in the Senate.
They said he risked suspicion that he was taking action overseas to distract from his political troubles at home, as in the political movie “Wag the Dog.”
Different international media and security experts said that the Trump administration’s assassination of Suleimani could turn out to be its biggest foreign policy blunder. The killing could lead to a war with Iranian proxies across the middle-east, belying Trump’s supposed desire to extricate the US from its endless conflicts.
But the most likely immediate effect of Soleimani’s killing will be to ratchet up pressure on the Iraqi government to expel US troops from Iraq. And that would mean Iran extending its already substantial influence over Iraqi government and society.
Bigger than bin Laden?
Talking to media, Michael Knights, a Gulf expert at the Washington Institute with years of experience working with local military and security agencies in Iraq and the Persian Gulf, told newsmen: “The puppet master is dead; the strings have been cut.”
“Qasem Soleimani is a unique figure,” Knights elaborated. “We don’t have anyone like him in the US, and because he was experienced, capable and had the complete trust of the supreme leader of Iran, they over-concentrated an awful lot of their capability and their prestige in one man.”
“And that guy just got killed. This was always the risk.”
To emphasize Soleimani’s significance, Roman Schweizer, managing director for aerospace and defence at the Cowen Washington Research Group, wrote in an analyst note Friday: “To be clear, this is the equivalent of Iran killing the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff or the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and then taking credit for it.”
Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt, Member of British Parliament from Conservative Party, who served in the Cabinet from 2010 to 2019, has called the US’s escalating confrontation with Iran over the assassination of Tehran’s top general an “incredibly dangerous game of chicken”.
He made his comments as the Foreign Office updated its travel advice on Saturday, warning British nationals against going to Iraq apart from essential travel to the Kurdistan region in the north of the country. The government is also urging Britons to avoid all but essential travel to Iran.
Some security experts believe this killing is the most significant in US history — for Charles Lister, a resident fellow at the Middle East Institute, it “far eclipses the deaths of [Osama] bin Laden or [Abu Bakr al-]Baghdadi in terms of strategic significance and implications ... there really is no underestimating the geopolitical ramifications of this.”
Regional analysts considered Soleimani to be the second-most-powerful leader in Iran, after only Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. And the US has pursued him for decades — his operations within Iraq since 2003 killed more than 600 American personnel, the State Department revealed last year.
The US has pursued him for decades — his operations within Iraq since 2003 have killed more than 600 American personnel.
The killing marked a major escalation in tensions between Iran and the US. US officials said 3,000 additional troops would be sent to the Middle East as a precaution.
How did Iran react?
In a statement following Soleimani's death, the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that ‘a harsh retaliation is waiting’ and announced a three-day mourning in the country.
He said the killing of Soleimani, who he considered a close friend and confidant, would double the motivation of the resistance against the US and Israel.
"All enemies should know that the war of resistance will continue with a doubled motivation, and a definite victory awaits the fighters in the holy war," Khamenei said in a statement carried by state television.
How does Iraq fit into this?
Iran supports a variety of Shia militia groups in neighbouring Iraq. Soleimani had just arrived at Baghdad airport and was travelling in a convoy alongside officials from such militia, when their cars were hit by several US missiles on Friday.
Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis was also killed in the strike. He commanded the Kataib Hezbollah group - also backed by Iran - which Washington blamed for a rocket attack that killed a US civilian contractor in northern Iraq last week.
Iraq is in a difficult position, as an ally both of Iran and of the US. Thousands of US troops remain in the country to assist in the broader struggle against the Islamic State (IS) group. But the Iraqi government insists that the US has acted beyond the terms of this agreement.
Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi labelled the missile strike as a "brazen violation of Iraq's sovereignty and a blatant attack on the nation's dignity".
Iraq's parliament announced that it would hold an emergency meeting on Sunday. The US State Department warned Americans in Iraq to leave "immediately".
Who was Qasem Soleimani?
The 62-year-old was widely seen as the second most powerful figure in Iran, behind Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The Quds Force, an elite unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), reported directly to the ayatollah, and Soleimani was hailed as a heroic national figure.
Under his 21-year leadership of the Quds Force, Iran bolstered Hezbollah and other pro-Iranian militant groups in Lebanon; expanded its military presence in Iraq and Syria; and orchestrated Syria's offensive against rebel groups in that country's long civil war.
What China, Russia and France says about the killing
China
China appealed for restraint from all sides, after top Iranian commander QasemSoleimaniwas assassinated in a US strike in Iraq.
Chinese 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.
Russia
Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov condemned the killing of Iran's top general in a US airstrike at Baghdad’s airport and said it will increase tensions throughout the Middle East.
The killing of Soleimani.... was an adventurist step that will increase tensions throughout the region, news agencies RIA Novosti and TASS quoted the foreign ministry as saying.
Lavrov said Soleimani served the cause of protecting Iran's national interests with devotion. We express our sincere condolences to the Iranian people.
An unnamed diplomat in the ministry told Russia’s state-run news agency TASS they consider the killing of Gen QassemSoleimani ‘an adventurist step’.
The head of the foreign affairs committee in Russia's upper parliament house called the US airstrike ‘a mistake’ that could ‘boomerang on its organizers’. Konstantin Kosachev in a Facebook post on Friday said the move destroyed the last hope to resolve the issues around the Iran nuclear deal.
France
France's Europe minister, Amelie de Montchalin told RTL radio: “The US killing of a top Iranian military commander has made the world more dangerous.”
He called for efforts to de-escalate the deepening conflict in the Middle East.
He said, “We have woken up to a more dangerous world, he said adding that President Emmanuel Macron would consult soon with players in the region.”
“In such operations, when we can see an escalation is underway, but what we want above all is stability and de-escalation,” Montchalin said.
All of France's efforts... in all parts of the world aim to ensure that we are creating the conditions for peace or at least stability, she added.
Our role is not to take sides, but to talk with everyone, Montchalin said.
