On 3rd January, 2020 at around 1 a.m. (Iraq local time) The U.S President Donald Trump ordered the air strike which killed 10 military personnel in Baghdad International Airport. Among the casualties were prominent figures like Iran’s Major General Qasem Soleimani of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Deputy Commander of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
The Pentagon – the U.S Department of Defense held Soleimani and his Quds Force responsible for the recent attacks on the K-1 Air Base in Iraq and the assault on the U.S embassy in the Green Zone. The air strike was thus a retaliation to these actions. It also stated that Soleimani fuelled the Iran-led proxy wars across the middle-east and it was necessary to stop this. Also, Donald Trump justified his order by claiming that Soleimani was an evildoer who had the blood of thousands of Americans on his hand and was a threat to the U.S and other countries. He stated that his action was taken to stop a war and not to start one.
The killing of General Soleimani generated vivid reactions along the U.S. party lines, with the republicans praising Trump on his bold action and the Democrats expressing concerns about the consequences of the strike. The Islamic republic of Iran on the other hand vows revenge. Thousands of protesters took the streets chanting “Death to America” and “Revenge, Revenge, Revenge”. They burned down the U.S. flag and hoisted a red flag as a sign of declaration of war.
Tens of thousands of mourners rallied through the Mollavi Square and Mashhad in Iran, holding up portraits of Soleimani as he was a hero-figurine among the people for his role in the Iran-Iraq wars and his contributions in diminishing the influence of ISIS. Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei declared three days of nation-wide mourning for Soleimani’s demise. Soon after the demise period elapsed, 3 missiles were deployed in the Green Zone in Baghdad containing U.S. troops on 5th January and it looked like the beginning of a new war.
Iraq’s Prime Minister Abel Abdul Mahdi also condemned the assassination of their militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. He stated that the air strike was an act of aggression on Iraq and breached its sovereignty. Also, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said that the only punishment was to destroy the U.S. military presence in the region. The international law administered by the United Nations has put the U.S. president in a stranglehold. The law condemns this act as it “violates international human rights law”, Agnes Callamard, a Rapporteur at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said. She also stated that an individual’s past involvement in terrorism does not make his killing lawful. The UN Charter also prohibits the use of force against other countries without its approval and as the Government of Iraq did no permit such an attack, many legal experts believe that the air strike was unlawful.
While under the U.S. law, the legality of the strike is debatable. Article 2 of the U.S. constitution provides the president constitutional authority as commander-in-chief and precedents set by past U.S. presidents builds a strong case for Donald Trump. However, the democrats claim that such a strike should have been executed with congressional approval.
The assassination of Soleimani is the most significant escalation in tensions between Washington and Tehran in recent times which started in 2018 when Trump unilaterally pulled out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
It is expected that Iran will retaliate once the mourning period is over but Trump threatens that 52 Iranian sites will be hit “very fast and very hard” if Iran retaliated by attacking US citizens or assets.
Desirous of de-escalating the tensions in the middle east, he has stationed his military personnel in Iraq and Kuwait. When he encountered resistance, he threatened to impose sanctions exponential than Iran’s. Iraq has thus deterred from making any public protests as it would upset the U.S.