Middle East on edge
Iran has promised to seek revenge for a United States air strike near Baghdad’s airport that killed the mastermind of its interventions across the Middle East, while the US is sending thousands more troops to the region, as tensions soar in the wake of the targeted killing.
The death of General Qassem Soleimani, head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, marks a major escalation in the standoff between Washington and Tehran, which has careered from one crisis to another since US President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal and imposed crippling sanctions.
Almost 24 hours after the attack on Soleimani on Friday, Iraqi officials and Iranian-backed militias in Iraq reported another deadly air strike.
An Iraqi government official reported the attack on two vehicles north of Baghdad but had no information on casualties. Another security official said five people were killed.
Iraqi state TV and the media arm of the Iran-backed militias known as the Popular Mobilisation Forces also reported the strike. The group said its medics were targeted.
The targeted strike against Soleimani and any retaliation by Iran could ignite a conflict that engulfs the whole region, endangering US troops in Iraq, Syria and beyond.
Over the last two decades, Soleimani had assembled a network of heavily armed allies stretching all the way to southern Lebanon, on Israel’s doorstep.
‘‘We take comfort in knowing that his reign of terror is over,’’ Trump said yesterday of Soleimani.
The US said yesterday it was sending nearly 3000 more troops to the Middle East, reflecting concern about potential Iranian retaliation. It also urged Americans to leave Iraq immediately.
Around 5200 American troops are based in Iraq to train Iraqi forces and help in the fight against Islamic State militants.
A Pentagon official who was not authorised to speak publicly said the US also had placed an army brigade on alert to fly into Lebanon to protect the American embassy there. US embassies also issued a security alert for Americans in Bahrain, Kuwait and Nigeria.
Trump said Soleimani’s killing was not an effort to begin a conflict with Iran, and he was not seeking regime change in Iran.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, vowed ‘‘harsh retaliation’’, calling Soleimani the ‘‘international face of resistance’’. He declared three days of public mourning and appointed Major General Esmail Ghaani, Soleimani’s deputy, to replace him as head of the Quds Force.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called the killing a ‘‘heinous crime’’ and said his country would ‘‘take revenge’’. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called the attack a ‘‘cowardly terrorist action’’ and said Iran had the right to respond ‘‘in any method and any time’’.
Thousands of worshippers in Tehran took to the streets after Friday prayers to condemn the killing, waving posters of Soleimani and chanting, ‘‘Death to deceitful America’’.
However, the attack could act as a deterrent for Iran and its allies to delay or restrain any potential response. Trump said possible targets had been identified and the US was prepared.
The killing promises to further strain relations with Iraq’s government, which is allied with both Washington and Tehran and has been deeply worried about becoming a battleground in their rivalry. Iraqi politicians close to Iran called for the country to order US forces out.
The US Defence Department said it killed Soleimani because he ‘‘was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region’’.
The attack marks a potential turning point in the Middle East and represents a drastic change for American policy towards Iran after months of tensions, rooted in Trump’s decision in May 2018 to withdraw the US from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers, struck under his predecessor Barack Obama.
Since then, Tehran has shot down a US military surveillance drone and seized oil tankers. The US also blames Iran for other attacks targeting oil tankers, and for a September assault on Saudi Arabia’s oil industry that temporarily halved its production.
The potential for a spiralling escalation has alarmed US allies and rivals alike.
The European Union warned against a ‘‘generalised flare-up of violence’’. Russia condemned the killing, and fellow United Nations Security Council member China said it was ‘‘highly concerned’’.
While Iran’s conventional military has faced 40 years of American sanctions, Iran can strike in the region through its allied forces like Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Iraqi militias, and Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah called on ‘‘the resistance the world over’’ to avenge Soleimani’s killing.
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council said it had held a special session and made ‘‘appropriate decisions’’ on how to respond. It did not elaborate.
Israeli Defence Minister Naftali Bennett held a meeting with top security officials yesterday, but the Israeli military said it was not taking any extraordinary action on its northern front.
Iraq’s Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi condemned the strike as an ‘‘aggression against Iraq’’. An emergency session of parliament has been called for today. Deputy speaker Hassan alKaabi said it would take ‘‘decisions that put an end to the US presence in Iraq’’.