 |
Iran
general Qassem Suleimani killed in Baghdad drone strike ordered by Trump
|
Iran
general Qassem Suleimani killed in Baghdad drone strike ordered by Trump
Supreme
leader vows ‘severe revenge’ after US president orders Baghdad airport strike
as part of ‘decisive defensive action’
US kills
Iranian general in Baghdad drone strike – live updates
Julian
Borger in Washington and Martin Chulov
Fri 3 Jan
2020 06.56 GMTFirst published on Fri 3 Jan 2020 00.47 GMT
The White
House said Donald Trump ordered an air strike that killed powerful Iranian
general Qassem Suleimani in Baghdad in the early hours of Friday, in a dramatic
escalation of an already bloody struggle between Washington and Tehran for
influence across the region.
Suleimani,
who ran Iranian military operations in Iraq and Syria, was targeted while being
driven from Baghdad airport by local allies from the Popular Mobilisation Units
(PMU). The deputy head of the PMU, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandes, a close Suleimani
associate, was also killed in the attack.
“General
Suleimani was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and
service members in Iraq and throughout the region,” a Pentagon statement said.
“This strike was aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans. The United
States will continue to take all necessary action to protect our people and our
interests wherever they are around the world.”
Minutes
before the statement Trump tweeted a US flag without comment. Later, the White
House put out a statement saying the strike was a “decisive defensive action”
carried out “at the direction of the president”.
Iran’s
supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, ordered three days of mourning and vowed that the
US would face “severe revenge” for the killing.
Iranian
president Hassan Rouhani said in a statement: “Soleimani’s martyrdom will make
Iran more decisive to resist America’s expansionism and to defend our Islamic
values. With no doubt, Iran and other freedom-seeking countries in the region
will take his revenge.”
The Iranian
foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said on Twitter: “The US’ act of
international terrorism, targeting & assassinating General Soleimani – THE
most effective force fighting Daesh (ISIS), Al Nusrah, Al Qaeda et al – is
extremely dangerous & a foolish escalation. The US bears responsibility for
all consequences of its rogue adventurism.”
US
secretary of state Mike Pompeo posted a video he said showed Iraqis dancing in
the street “thankful that General Soleimani is no more”.
Suleimani
was commander of the Quds Force, the elite, external wing of the Iran’s Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which the Trump administration designated as
a terror organisation in April last year. The Pentagon statement claiming
responsible for the strike accused the Quds Force of being responsible for the
deaths of hundreds of US service members and the wounding of thousands more.
Many
consider Suleimani to have been the second most powerful person in Iran, behind
Khamenei, and arguably ahead of President Hassan Rouhani. Through a mix of
security operations and diplomatic coercion, has been more responsible than
anyone else for projecting Iran’s influence in the region.
The
escalation had followed a tit-for-tat series of strikes by both sides, which
have been protagonists in Iraq since late 2006. Suleimani had been central to
almost all that Iran did and was considered by senior officials under Barack
Obama as being close to untouchable.
The strike
came at a time when Iraq was already on the brink of an all-out proxy war, and
hours after a two-day siege of the US embassy in Baghdad by a mob of PMF
militants and their supporters. The Pentagon accused Suleimani of having
masterminded the mob attack.
That siege
followed US air strikes on camps run by a PMF-affiliated militia particularly
closely aligned with Tehran, which in turn was a reprisal for that militia’s
killing of a US contractor in an attack on an Iraqi army base on Friday.
The US has
deployed 750 airborne troops to Kuwait as a rapid reaction force available for
use in Iraq, and officials has said up to 3,000 could be sent in the coming
days. The defence secretary, Mark Esper, said on Thursday that more militia
attacks were expected and the US reserved the right to take preemptive action
to stop them.
“There are
some indications out there that they may be planning additional attacks,” Esper
said. “If we get word of attacks, we will take pre-emptive action as well to
protect American forces, protect American lives. The game has changed.”
Suleimani’s
death leaves Iraq and the region on the brink of a new upsurge in violence,
with Trump’s and Khamenei’s moves and counter-moves hard to predict.
Trump
ordered the strike at a time when the US Congress was in recess, and the White
House framed the action as an act of self-defence in the context of
counter-terror operations. But Democrats and perhaps some Republicans in
Congress will see it as an usurpation of the legislature’s authority to decide
matters of war and peace.
“One reason
we don’t generally assassinate foreign political officials is the belief that
such action will get more, not less, Americans killed,” Democratic Senator
Chris Murphy said on Twitter. “That should be our real, pressing and grave
worry tonight.”
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário