What’s Going On With Iran?
Written by Andrew Liu
Image source: Al Jazeera. “Iran's Qassem Soleimani Killed in US Air Raid at Baghdad Airport.” News | Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 3 Jan. 2020, www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/01/iraq-3-katyusha-rockets-fired-baghdad-airport-200102232817666.html.
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On Jan 3rd, 2020, President Donald Trump authorized an air strike that killed Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani. Four officers of the military unit he led and a number of Iraqi militia leaders were killed as well. The death of one of Iran’s most powerful and respected men sparked national outrage and days of mourning across the country and inflamed anti-American sentiments to new heights not seen for decades.
Even so, the seemingly sudden American attack and Iran’s heated reaction had roots in political events that had happened months, and sometimes years, beforehand. |
Who is Soleimani?
Qassem Soleimani first joined the Iranian military in the early 1980s during the Iran-Iraq war. His quick rise to prominence not only earned him the respect of much of Iran’s military, but also of the nation. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, even hailed him as a "living martyr of the revolution” in a statement following Soleimani’s death.
At the time of his death, Soleimani was the head of Revolutionary Guards Quds Force, an elite military unit that handles Iran’s overseas affairs. The unit, and in turn Soleimani, played and continues to play a crucial role in spreading Iran’s influence in the Middle East as well as spreading Shia Muslim ideologies in other Middle Eastern nations. The unit also funds and arms Shia militia groups in other Middle Eastern countries such as the Hezbollah in Lebanon in an effort to combat growing Sunni influence.
Why was Soleimani killed?
The fact that the air strike that killed Soleimani was not approved by Congress has generated significant controversy and has raised questions over the legality of the attack. As a result, the Trump administration has scrambled to justify the Iranian general’s killing, especially as Iranian threats of revenge and even war mount.
The Trump administration’s official justification for the air strike is that the attack was meant to head off an “imminent” Iranian attack and as retribution after an American contractor was killed at an Iraqi base, most likely by Iranian-backed militias. "We want the world to understand that there was, in fact, an imminent attack taking place," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said. "The American people should know that this was an intelligence-based assessment that drove this." The Pentagon added on to that in an official statement, saying that Soleimani "was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region."
What has been the response to the attack?
Domestic response to the attack in Iran was a wave of sadness and anger. Millions of visibly upset Iranians marched in the streets of Tehran for days after Soleimani’s death, with many of them carrying signs saying “death to the USA” and shouting the same slogans.
Despite widespread anti-government protests in Iran just weeks before, widespread respect and reverence for Soleimani across the country has apparently united Iranians in anger at the US.
Iran has responded to the air strike that killed Soleimani with force, launching more than a dozen missiles at two Iraqi bases that hold US troops in retaliation on January 8th. Furthermore, Iran also launched a mortar attack at the US Embassy in Baghdad on January 26th.
In a statement, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, the military unit that Soleimani headed, said the attacks were "hard revenge" for the death of Soleimani.
How did tensions build up to this point?
The root of Iran’s tensions with the Trump administration may have started back in May 2017, when President Donald Trump made a speech holding Iran responsible for global extremism in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on his first foreign visit since taking office.
The established political tensions then started to build starting in May 2018, when Trump left the Iran nuclear agreement and adopted a “maximum pressure” policy of economic sanctions on Iran. The US designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization starting in April 2019 only served to escalate the issues.
For a year, Iran tried to isolate the United States diplomatically and win economic concessions from other parties to the nuclear agreement, but by May 2019, Tehran had chosen instead to breach the agreement and escalate tensions across the region.
Throughout the spring and summer of 2019, Iran began carrying out a series of attacks on oil tankers in the Persian Gulf region. Tehran is also believed to be behind the September attacks on oil installations in Saudi Arabia, which drove oil prices up to levels not seen for years.
In December, attacks on US military bases in Iraq killed a US citizen. The US blamed an Iranian-backed militia inside Iraq, and fired on its bases in retaliation. In the same month, Iranian backed militias protested outside the US Embassy in Baghdad, storming the security post.
All these events and escalation set a tense political stage ripe for the US air strike that killed Major General Qasem Soleimani on January 3rd, 2020.
Qassem Soleimani first joined the Iranian military in the early 1980s during the Iran-Iraq war. His quick rise to prominence not only earned him the respect of much of Iran’s military, but also of the nation. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, even hailed him as a "living martyr of the revolution” in a statement following Soleimani’s death.
At the time of his death, Soleimani was the head of Revolutionary Guards Quds Force, an elite military unit that handles Iran’s overseas affairs. The unit, and in turn Soleimani, played and continues to play a crucial role in spreading Iran’s influence in the Middle East as well as spreading Shia Muslim ideologies in other Middle Eastern nations. The unit also funds and arms Shia militia groups in other Middle Eastern countries such as the Hezbollah in Lebanon in an effort to combat growing Sunni influence.
Why was Soleimani killed?
The fact that the air strike that killed Soleimani was not approved by Congress has generated significant controversy and has raised questions over the legality of the attack. As a result, the Trump administration has scrambled to justify the Iranian general’s killing, especially as Iranian threats of revenge and even war mount.
The Trump administration’s official justification for the air strike is that the attack was meant to head off an “imminent” Iranian attack and as retribution after an American contractor was killed at an Iraqi base, most likely by Iranian-backed militias. "We want the world to understand that there was, in fact, an imminent attack taking place," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said. "The American people should know that this was an intelligence-based assessment that drove this." The Pentagon added on to that in an official statement, saying that Soleimani "was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region."
What has been the response to the attack?
Domestic response to the attack in Iran was a wave of sadness and anger. Millions of visibly upset Iranians marched in the streets of Tehran for days after Soleimani’s death, with many of them carrying signs saying “death to the USA” and shouting the same slogans.
Despite widespread anti-government protests in Iran just weeks before, widespread respect and reverence for Soleimani across the country has apparently united Iranians in anger at the US.
Iran has responded to the air strike that killed Soleimani with force, launching more than a dozen missiles at two Iraqi bases that hold US troops in retaliation on January 8th. Furthermore, Iran also launched a mortar attack at the US Embassy in Baghdad on January 26th.
In a statement, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, the military unit that Soleimani headed, said the attacks were "hard revenge" for the death of Soleimani.
How did tensions build up to this point?
The root of Iran’s tensions with the Trump administration may have started back in May 2017, when President Donald Trump made a speech holding Iran responsible for global extremism in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on his first foreign visit since taking office.
The established political tensions then started to build starting in May 2018, when Trump left the Iran nuclear agreement and adopted a “maximum pressure” policy of economic sanctions on Iran. The US designating the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization starting in April 2019 only served to escalate the issues.
For a year, Iran tried to isolate the United States diplomatically and win economic concessions from other parties to the nuclear agreement, but by May 2019, Tehran had chosen instead to breach the agreement and escalate tensions across the region.
Throughout the spring and summer of 2019, Iran began carrying out a series of attacks on oil tankers in the Persian Gulf region. Tehran is also believed to be behind the September attacks on oil installations in Saudi Arabia, which drove oil prices up to levels not seen for years.
In December, attacks on US military bases in Iraq killed a US citizen. The US blamed an Iranian-backed militia inside Iraq, and fired on its bases in retaliation. In the same month, Iranian backed militias protested outside the US Embassy in Baghdad, storming the security post.
All these events and escalation set a tense political stage ripe for the US air strike that killed Major General Qasem Soleimani on January 3rd, 2020.
Works cited
- Gaouette, Nicole, et al. “Trump Says 'Iran Appears to Be Standing down' Following Its Retaliatory Attacks.” CNN, Cable News Network, 8 Jan. 2020, www.cnn.com/2020/01/07/politics/rockets-us-airbase-iraq/index.html.
- Prothero, Mitch. “Yet Another Attack Shows Iran Is Carefully Demonstrating It Can Hit US Forces and Their Allies Whenever It Wants.” Insider, Insider, 27 Jan. 2020, www.insider.com/iran-attack-us-embassy-iraq-accuracy-2020-1.
- “The History of US-Iran Relations: A Timeline.” Public Radio International, www.pri.org/stories/2020-01-03/history-us-iran-relations-timeline.
- Wolf, Zachary B., and Veronica Stracqualursi. “The Evolving US Justification for Killing Iran's Top General.” CNN, Cable News Network, 8 Jan. 2020, www.cnn.com/2020/01/07/politics/qasem-soleimani-reasons-justifications/index.html.