Let’s talk about the assassination.
Qassem Soleimani was seen as the second most powerful man in Iran.
He was killed in Iraq when the Americans
blew up his convoy using a drone.
This is the equivalent of the Iranians assassinating
the US secretary of defence.
Iran is promising revenge.
So who was Major General Qassem Soleimani?
Why is there talk of a possible war between Iran and the US?
And was the attack even legal?
I’m Sandra Gathmann.
Welcome to a special episode of “Start Here”.
You only have to look at the size of Qassem Soleimani’s funeral
to appreciate just how important he was to people in Iran.
Soleimani was the leader of Iran’s powerful Quds Force.
It’s the paramilitary wing of the Revolutionary Guard Corps
and it's active mostly outside of Iran.
The US considers the force a terrorist organisation.
The administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama
both considered assassinating Soleimani.
Both rejected the option as too risky.
Trump, though, pulled the trigger.
Last Friday, Soleimani landed in Iraq, at Baghdad airport.
He was with an Iraqi paramilitary commander
named Abu Mahdi al Muhandis and other Iraqi officials.
Circling somewhere high above them was a Reaper
a US military, remote-controlled killer drone.
It’s unlikely they would have seen or heard it.
To give you an idea of what these men were facing
here’s a video of a drone missile being tested.
And here’s some amateur footage from Baghdad
that reportedly shows the actual missile strike on the convoy.
They probably died instantly.
Trump did not inform Congress
about these plans to kill Soleimani in advance
This is very common for the Pentagon
to present multiple military options
to presidents in times of crisis.
The Pentagon did not think, allegedly, that Trump
was going to select that option but that is exactly what he did.
So why strike now?
The Trump administration says there was an imminent threat.
It’s the only time an American president
is allowed to order a military strike
on another country without congressional approval.
We took action last night to stop a war.
We did not take action to start a war.
Under US law Trump had 48 hours
to explain himself to Congress, in writing
and he did, in a classified letter.
But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says
it raises more questions than answers.
Democrats basically saying what is the evidence that you have?
What is that intelligence?
And so far the Trump administration
is not wanting to release that publicly.
The assassination of Qassem Soleimani didn’t just come out of nowhere.
The US and Iran have been at each other for a while now.
Starting with Trump’s decision in 2018 to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal.
That led to the reimposition of US sanctions
designed to cripple Iran’s economy.
And Iran retaliated by resuming uranium enrichment.
And ever since then there’s been trouble in the Gulf region.
Iran was blamed for attacks on oil tankers.
The Revolutionary Guard shot down a US surveillance drone.
Then a Saudi oil refinery, the world’s biggest, was hit by a drone strike.
Houthi rebels in Yemen said they did it but the US blames Iran.
At the end of December the Americans bombed targets in Iraq and Syria
killing 25 militia fighters linked to Iran.
That led to people storming the US embassy in Baghdad.
And now the Soleimani assassination.
The fallout from the assassination has been immediate.
“The US is urging Americans to leave Iraq immediately
and is sending extra troops to the region
in case of reprisal attacks.”
“Iran announcing it has no limits to its nuclear activity.”
Now, ever since the attack
there’s been speculation that Soleimani’s death
could lead to war between the US and Iran.
But most observers don’t expect Iran will take that chance.
The Iranian side is very clear that their conventional military power
is dwarfed by that of the US, Israel and other regional allies
of the US in the region but Iran has proven itself to be incredibly
sophisticated at asymmetric warfare, at cyberattacks.
Right after Soleimani was killed
the Americans were talking about de-escalating the situation.
Then Trump tweeted.
Basically warning Iran to forget about retaliating.
Because if they did
he’s already chosen 52 targets: one for each American
held during the Iran hostage crisis in 1979.
President Donald Trump has also been accused
of ordering the assassination to distract the American public
from his impeachment proceedings.
That was bound to happen.
But whatever the motivation
Donald Trump’s decision to kill Soleimani
has people around the world feeling a little less safe.