The powerful general iranian Qasem Soleimani, commander of the elite Quds Revolutionary Guard, has died in the early hours of this Friday (Baghdad time) in a bombing at the airport of the iraqi capital carried out by the u.s. Army, following orders from president Donald Trump, as confirmed by the Pentagon.
Shortly before the official confirmation, the television iraqi official had announced the death of general Soleimani, as well as Abu Mehdi al-Muhandis, the number two of the proiraníes Forces of Popular Mobilization (Hashd al-Shaabi), “in an american bombing”. Five other people have died in the attack, according to the Associated Press.
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the assault on the Embassy in Baghdad triggered the tension between the united States and Iran, The iranian supreme leader condemns the bombing of U.S. embassies in Iraq and denies being behind the assault on the Embassy Trump is accusing Iran of the attack on the american embassy in Baghdad
The president Trump has been limited to tweet, minutes before the Pentagon issue a statement, a u.s. flag without any text to accompany you.
“The general Soleimani was actively developing plans to attack u.s. diplomatic and military personnel in Iraq and throughout the region,” says the Pentagon in the press release, in which he accuses the general and his forces Quds of “the death of hundreds of americans and coalition members” and of “injuring thousands more.”
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— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2020
The attack causes fear reprisals from Tehran and redoubles the already high tension between Iran and the united States in Iraq, where last Tuesday, dozens of protesters proiraníes attacked the american Embassy. The crowd broke through the outer wall to the cry of “Death to America!”, in response to the ongoing crackdown by american forces on Sunday that left at least 25 dead in five bombings in the border area between Iraq and Syria against the positions of the Brigades of Hezbollah, in retaliation for the death of a u.s. contractor last Friday, in another attack that Washington blames militia proiraní.
Soleimani, who is often compared to Karla, the soviet mentor spy novels of Le Carré, is considered to be one of the men closest to the ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the more powerful within the military structure of iran.
According to military sources cited by Associated Press, Soleimani and Mohammed Ridha Jabri, public relations of the Forces of Popular Mobilization, they had just landed on a plane from Syria or Lebanon. They were greeted by two vehicles, one of which was traveling to The Muhandis, who started to receive them. The attack, according to military sources cited by The New York Times, came when they left the airport aboard the two cars.
on Thursday afternoon, the next day to disperse the protests at the embassy in Baghdad, secretary of Defense Mark Esper, warned that the u.s. military would attack them “preemptively” to pro-iranian forces in Iraq and Syria if they spotted signs that the militias were planning more attacks against U.s. interests in the region. On Thursday night, hours before the action that killed Soleimani, there was another attack with three missiles at the same airport caused no deaths or injuries.
In April of last year, the united States included the Guard Revolutionary iran, whose Quds force was directing Soleimani, in its list of terrorist organizations. The Pentagon, in the press release published this Thursday night (Washington time), ensures that the general gunned down “there were orchestrated attacks on the basis of the coalition in Iraq in recent months, including the Friday 27 December”, in reference to the action that killed a u.s. contractor and started this new spiral of tensions, with the attack of this night has soared to new heights.
