The assassination of Qasem Soleimani- A Critical analysis.

The assassination of Qasem Soleimani- A critical analysis.

On January 3^rd 2020, at around 1am local time to the region of Baghdad Iraq, Top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani was killed by a drone airstrike orchestrated by the US, but more namely Donald Trump. It can be argued that this offensive military decision has led to heightened insecurity and rising tensions between the USA and Iran. The USA who according to the CNBC, (https://www.cnbc.com/2019/12/21/trump-signs-738-billion-defense-bill.html) stated that Trump had committed $738 billion dollars to defence spending for fiscal year 2020. Meanwhile Iran is expanding its nuclear weapons programme and is growing stronger in the Middle East.

This blog aims to uncover the events from a historical and political perspective which led to the assassination and to explore why in my opinion, our Prime Minster Boris Johnson has been so slow to respond and what this could mean for the rest of us on the world stage, who can only sit nervously and wait to see if yet again we are going to be dragged into another war, which just like the invasion of Iraq in 2003, we the public were never consulted on.

Qasem Soleimani was arguably the figurehead and one of the most powerful individuals within the Islamic Republic, (BBC News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-middle-east-50987073/qasem-soleimani-who-was-iran-s-rock-star-general) This of course resulted in the US identifying him alone as a sole threat to US interests abroad. Soleimani was also a major player in the Assad regime and contributed heavily from a militaristic aspect the fight against Islamic State and other inspired rebels and splinter groups from the Assad regime.  To provide some context as to the level of Influence Soleimani played within the Assad regime, in 2013, he was described by CIA officer John Maguire as being ‘the single most powerful operative in the Middle East’. (https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/09/30/the-shadow-commander?verso=true). Soleimani came from a naturally impoverished background and similar to many like him, joined the military and worked his way up. He rose through the ranks in the revolutionary guards who act as the elite task force for the Iranian military. When the United States invaded Iraq in 2003, Soleimani was a major figurehead of training, aiding and deploying rebel militants to fight against the American invasion. (BBC news- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-50980093) The tensions have always been significantly high between Soleimani and the US both in the White House and on the ground in Iraq, and subsequently the associated threat from Americas perspective was heightened. Further events such as America’s withdrawal from a joint comprehensive plan of action with Iran in 2018, which would have seen a nuclear treaty. This withdrawal would lead to further tensions between the two nations. – (The independent https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iran-nuclear-deal-why-trump-us-withdraw-effect-europe-rouhani-latest-a8343496.html) It can be argued that the breaking point for America, which led to Donald Trump authorising the airstrike, was the death of a US military contractor in a missile attack on a US base in Iraq authorised by the Iranian military – (The independent https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/iraq-rocket-attack-us-military-death-latest-a9262121.html)

What was interesting from my perspective was that in Donald Trump’s statement justifying his authorisation of the assassination, he portrayed America as the protector of ‘ordinary Iranians’, and similar to the killing of Colonel Gaddafi in 2011, America were the global defenders of the people in the global South, who could not politically stand up for themselves and their national interests. I argue that this emotive statement wasn’t truly representing the interests of those who may have suffered under the Assad regime, but it was a demonstration to the world that America is still a global hegemony and this was demonstrated through contingent sovereignty as a long term result of post-colonial sentiment. These arguments I will go into further depth throughout this blog. There is no denying that Soleimani was a threat to the US, however I argue that this assassination will create deeper issues for the United States, as well as their allies. The rise of extremism and Anti Americanism will become more established and extremism and threats will multiply as a result.  Those moderate, peaceful Iranians, who the US claimed they were defending will rise, and protest around the hegemonic and colonial displays which the US is once again displaying. Already Iranians are coming out on mass and swearing revenge against the United States. (BBC News- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-51004688)

So far, I hope this blog has provided an explanation of what happened on the 3^rd January 2020, and the symbolic events from both the sides of the United States and Iran which led to the tensions being heightened. It is important to understand the colonial past which America had and continues to have on the Middle East. This will be broken down in this next section.

It is not inaccurate to say that America has a colonial and hegemonic past, present and future. The micro and macro impacts of America’s colonialism are still visible today, from America’s aggressive and manipulative foreign policy to the self-entitlement and arrogance displayed by many of their citizens on the issue of war and conflict in the Middle East to this day. This doesn’t go without saying that other countries in the Global North haven’t contributed to this attempted conquest of the Middle East. Drawing upon the area of US-Iran relations and through exploring America’s colonial past and present holds more relevance for this blog piece. Drawing upon America’s actions throughout history, it is worth remembering that in 2003 the Bush Administration authorised the invasion of Iraq, in the bid to exert influence, capture or kill Osama Bin Laden,  former leader of Al-Qaeda who claimed responsibility for the 9/11 attacks on America and also who decades before had been trained and equipped by the CIA, in America’s bid to drive down communist expansionism from the Soviet Union. This was known more formally as Operation Cyclone.

To provide some historical background, Scott P (2008) in his book, ‘The road to 9/11’ discusses in depth around America’s original involvement in the Middle East.  In 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to establish the communist government of the people’s Democratic part of Afghanistan known better as the PDPA. This was mostly propagated under the soviet’s Union fear of losing its communist proxy in Afghanistan. (Scott P,2008).  

America who was and continues to be a capitalist state simply did not want the power and influence of communism to expand, this threat of communist expansionism was coined as ‘the domino theory’ by President Eisenhower in 1953. (Slater J 2008) The domino theory fundamentally believed that if one country fell to communism, then countries around it would equally fall. The Vietnam war which begun in 1965 was another key example of the United States interfering in foreign affairs in a bid to maintain global hegemony and control over those countries who were evolving into becoming a non-capitalist state.

It doesn’t go without saying that Iraq and Afghanistan had ownership to vital resources such as oil which America became a declining producer of. It can be argued that the message America was portraying was that this vital asset must be protected and exploited which contributed to what followed decades later. In a bid to uphold the power of capitalism, the US turned to the Islamic ‘freedom fighters’, as ascribed by the CIA and recruited them to fight against the Soviets. The CIA which was formed in 1947 under the Truman Administration by Wall Street Lawyers and bankers offered arms and training to the mujahedeen who later became splintered into groups we call ‘Al – Qaeda’, the ‘Taliban’ and the ‘Islamic State’. (Scott P 2008). Collectively these decisions taken by the US had resulted in their own downfall. Put best by an Afghan exile to a U.S state department official who said ‘For Gods sake, your financing your own assassins’ (Scott P 2008, p114) Based on these events, it is clear that America has held no hesitations in conducting offensive military operations and making open and honest threats to their opponents as to what America is capable of and what they wouldn’t hesitate to do if put into a position of vulnerability and insecurity on the world stage.

The geopolitical relationship between Iran and the United States has always been a complicated and fragmented one. There are however some key events which in my opinion eventually led to the assassination of Soleimani. In 1953, the United States, in alliance with Britain, co-ordinated a coup to overthrow a leader who the Iranian people had democratically elected to run Iran. His name was Mohammed Mosaddeq. It appeared that this coup was staged primarily because of Mosaddeq’s pledge to the Iranian people to Nationalise the oil industry. (The Guardian- https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/19/cia-admits-role-1953-iranian-coup) This is an action which of course would threaten and belittle America’s power in the Middle East and their access to oil, however I argue that the staged coup was illegitimate and clearly demonstrates America’s insecurity which was wrapped under the guise of military and political offensive strategy. This was the beginning of hostile and problematic relations between Iran and the United States. In 1979, Iran had a revolution which saw the exile of Mohammed Reza Pahlevi who a US was backed Shah. This was one of the first few events which saw Iranian’s resistance against American influence of the running of their country. (Al Jazeera- https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2014/01/iran-1979-revolution-shook-world-2014121134227652609.html)

 At the same time though, America was negotiating the release of the American hostage in Tehran. The American embassy in Tehran was seized by Hezbollah fighters, and American hostages were held captive for an astonishing 444 days. (Hein online- https://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?handle=hein.journals/denilp10&div=38&id=&page=) America had to tread carefully and negotiate the release of their citizens whilst at the same time maintain the assertion of their strength and capabilities to the rest of the world. It resulted in the CIA secretly exporting weapons to Iran in a negotiation bid to fight Hezbollah and release the hostages. This was labelled as the Iran- Contra scandal. One of the most symbolic events however which contributed to the increased and problematic relations between Iran and the United States occurred in 1988. An Iranian passenger aircraft was shot down by the US. The airbus A300 was allegedly mistaken for a fighter jet. (BBC news- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/stories-44614512/when-the-us-shot-down-an-iranian-airliner) This explanation of course does not co-ordinate with the sophisticated capabilities and technologies which America has at it’s disposal. I for one refuse to believe that this was an innocent mistake, a mistake which resulted in the tragic deaths of 290 people, many of whom were Iranian pilgrims on route to Mecca for religious observation. Collectively these are highly symbolic events which caused tensions between the two states, however micro aggressions were continuous and such aggressions included the speech given in 2002 by President George Bush who described Iran as an ‘axis of evil’.  (The New York Times 2015 https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/politics/100000004021075/the-axis-of-evil-speech.html) This speech alone led to protests and political outrage in Iran and amongst its citizens.

What I found particularly striking was the delayed response by Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson. This next section aims to explore some of the reasons as to why I think it took Boris Johnson longer than necessary to respond. This is an extremely tense and challenging political climate for all those involved in politics, regardless of the state and party. I acknowledge that this act of war orchestrated by Donald Trump has produced Boris Johnson with a complicated political dilemma. He can either come out and condemn Trump’s actions and consequently dismantle relations between Britain and America, relations which Johnson is worryingly dependant on in terms of negotiating a new Brexit trade deal and maintaining alliances and good International relations. The other alternative is to support the actions committed by America, maintain this relationship built on trade, diplomacy and military alliance but risk plunging Britain into yet another war in the Middle East, which the first time round in 2003 saw no consolation with the British public, and will cost our economy billions, if not trillions, and not even to mention the tragic loss of life. Looking from a historical lens, I believe that the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, which led to nation states forming alliance blocks with their partners led to a major military offensive from all sides, is similar to what we could see here if we are not careful. Boris Johnson must be very articulate and careful with the next few statements he makes on the world stage.

To conclude, the assassination of Qasem Soleimani has thrown the world into yet more uncertainty, insecurity and anxiety. Trump’s decision to interfere in Iran’s domestic affairs shows a clear display of contingent sovereignty as a result of post-colonial sentiment. I can only hope that this doesn’t escalate on an International scale resulting in what many are labelling as a ‘World War Three’. I don’t think any of us can sustain yet another bloody war and conflict, all at the hands of an action taken by a man who is narcissistic, dominant and isn’t afraid to exert this dominance on the world stage. However after exploring historical events, our collective fears may come true, I can only hope that firstly there will be a consultation the British and American public, and America takes ownership of the real reasons why they would go to war and drag it’s allies in with them. Not for the sake of stabilising Iran and ‘liberating the moderates’ but instead to establish its post-colonial past and maintain its hegemony and exploitation of Middle Eastern resources as well as maintaining its political influence on the world stage.

References

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