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Subject: The Qasem Soleimani assassination / Iraq / Iran (merged threads) Thu Jan 02, 2020 8:23 pm
Published 1 min ago on January 2, 2020
Pentagon claims credit for Qasem Soleimani assassination — ordered ‘at the direction of the president’
Secretary of Defense Mark Esper issued a Thursday evening press release claiming credit for killing Iranian General Qasem Soleimani at the Baghdad airport in Iraq.
Soleimani was a revered figure in Iran and the country is expected to retaliate.
“At the direction of the President, the U.S. military has taken decisive defensive action to protect U.S. personnel abroad by killing Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization,” the statement read.
Historian Tim Naftali worried about Trump’s approach. “This statement is what you issue if you want Iran to respond violently to defend its prestige. Not a good strategy,” Naftali said.
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Sara Regular Member
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Subject: Re: The Qasem Soleimani assassination / Iraq / Iran (merged threads) Thu Jan 02, 2020 8:25 pm
Fill your gas tank now. Oil futures are already up.
The Wise And Powerful Admin
Posts : 111040 Join date : 2014-07-29 Age : 101 Location : A Mile High
Subject: Re: The Qasem Soleimani assassination / Iraq / Iran (merged threads) Thu Jan 02, 2020 8:26 pm
Subject: Re: The Qasem Soleimani assassination / Iraq / Iran (merged threads) Thu Jan 02, 2020 8:33 pm
"The consequences of killing Soleimani are hard to grasp; ''this is the biggest news in the Middle East for years. For starters, the US will have to leave Syria soon & the Iraq presence is likely on its way out too."
— Charles Lister, Middle East Institute Behnam Ben Taleblu of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies tells Axios this is "one of the most significant security events in modern Middle Eastern history."
"While Soleimani has institutionalized at least some of his war-fighting aptitudes within the [IRGC], what isn’t institutionalized is his name-brand and charisma," he adds. Mahdi al-Muhandis, founder of the Iran-backed Iraqi militia Kataib Hezbollah, was also reported dead.
Kataib Hezbollah responded to deadly airstrikes by the U.S. on Sunday with two days of violent protests outside the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Thursday that there were indications that Iran or its proxies may be planning additional attacks, and that the U.S. was prepared to take preemptive action. “The game has changed,” he said. “And we’re prepared to do what is necessary to defend our personnel and our interests and our partners in the region.” President Trump threatened to retaliate after the chaotic scenes at the embassy, but has also said he doesn’t want war.
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Sara Regular Member
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Subject: Re: The Qasem Soleimani assassination / Iraq / Iran (merged threads) Thu Jan 02, 2020 8:42 pm
Trump's doing things he accused Obama of doing - too much golf and starting a war with Iran.
The Wise And Powerful Admin
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Subject: Re: The Qasem Soleimani assassination / Iraq / Iran (merged threads) Thu Jan 02, 2020 8:59 pm
They're dancing in the streets over the killing of Soleimani:
I hear that goes both ways.. some are happy others are not.. there are more 'is not' than. Soleimani was an Icon for near 5 decades, he was loved by a great many. the/his military is very angry,, It will be two weeks before we see the full heat over this, imo.
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Temple Regular Member
Posts : 7317 Join date : 2014-07-29
Subject: Re: The Qasem Soleimani assassination / Iraq / Iran (merged threads) Thu Jan 02, 2020 9:34 pm
Sara wrote:
Fill your gas tank now. Oil futures are already up.
ehh don't bother.. no where to run, if.. hey- duck and cover BWAHAA ' ( i saw that crazy stuff on youtube)
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directorate Regular Member
Posts : 5789 Join date : 2017-05-22
Subject: Re: The Qasem Soleimani assassination / Iraq / Iran (merged threads) Thu Jan 02, 2020 10:15 pm
Temple wrote:
The Wise And Powerful wrote:
They're dancing in the streets over the killing of Soleimani:
I hear that goes both ways.. some are happy others are not.. there are more 'is not' than. Soleimani was an Icon for near 5 decades, he was loved by a great many. the/his military is very angry,, It will be two weeks before we see the full heat over this, imo.
He was born March 11 1957. I doubt he was an icon as a child.
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Subject: Re: The Qasem Soleimani assassination / Iraq / Iran (merged threads) Thu Jan 02, 2020 10:21 pm
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Subject: Re: The Qasem Soleimani assassination / Iraq / Iran (merged threads) Fri Jan 03, 2020 12:31 am
Who was Qassem Soleimani, and why is his death a major development in U.S.-Middle East relations? Published: Jan 3, 2020 1:16 a.m. ET | Marketwatch
Qassem Soleimani, leader of the foreign wing of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was killed in a U.S. airstrike at Baghdad’s international airport Friday, local time, escalating long-brewing animosities between Tehran and Washington.
President Donald Trump authorized the airstrike that killed Soleimani, a top Iranian general who is considered one of the most revered military leaders in the Islamic Republic: “At the direction of the president, the U.S. military has taken decisive defensive action to protect U.S. personnel abroad by killing,” the U.S. Department of Defense said in a statement.
In a tweet, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif described the strike that killed the general as an act of international terrorism: “The US’ act of international terrorism, targeting & assassinating General Soleimani—THE most effective force fighting Daesh (ISIS), Al Nusrah, Al Qaeda et al—is extremely dangerous & a foolish escalation,” he wrote on Twitter. “The US bears responsibility for all consequences of its rogue adventurism,” he said.
Javad Zarif @JZarif The US' act of international terrorism, targeting & assassinating General Soleimani—THE most effective force fighting Daesh (ISIS), Al Nusrah, Al Qaeda et al—is extremely dangerous & a foolish escalation.
The US bears responsibility for all consequences of its rogue adventurism.
16.5K 8:58 PM - Jan 2, 2020
The U.S. has said that the assassination of Soleimani was an attempt to deter attacks against U.S. embassies, service members or diplomats.
Here’s why the death of the general is particularly significant in the intensifying tensions between the U.S. and Iran.
Who was Soleimani?
“He’s probably the most powerful figure that is generally unknown outside Iran and the Middle East. He’s essentially Iran’s viceroy for Iraq,” Jim Phillips, Middle East analyst for conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation, was quoted as saying in a 2015 interview with NBC News.
Soleimani rose to prominence during the 1980–’88 Iran-Iraq War, and by 2013 had become one of Iran’s most important figures.
Soleimani was named major general of the Quds Force in 1998 and ran it until his death. The Quds Force has no equivalent in the U.S. but has been described as “analogous to a combined CIA and Special Forces,” according to an article in the New Yorker back in 2013. The Quds Force, which is estimated to consist of about 20,000 personnel, has been designated a terrorist group by the U.S. since 2007, according to reports.
The New Yorker article also described Soleimani as “ the single most powerful operative in the Middle East today,” citing former CIA officer John Maguire.
Reports have had also described Soleiman as second to only the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in power in Iran.
In fact, Khamenei has referred to Suleimani as “a living martyr of the revolution,” and last March expressed hope that he would die as one.
“I hope that Allah the Exalted will reward and bless him, that he will help him live a blissful life and that he will make his end marked by martyrdom,” Khamenei said as he awarded Soleimani the Order of Zulfaqar — the highest miliary honor in Iran that was established in 1856 and had not been awarded since 1979 until it was revived to honor the Quds Force commander.
To some U.S. leaders, Soleimani has been viewed as a shadowy figure. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo referred to him as “dangerous as Islamic State leader Abu al-Baghdadi,” who was killed in a U.S.-led raid in northwestern Syria in late October.
“Qassem Soleimani has the blood of Americans on his hands, Bret, as does the force that he leads, and America is determined each time we find an organization, institution or an individual that has taken the lives of Americans, it is our responsibility,” Pompeo told Fox News’s Bret Baier in an interview back in April 2018, after the U.S. designated Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps a foreign terrorist organization, marking the first time that the U.S. has labeled an entity of another government as a terrorist organization.
It isn’t clear how Iran will respond to the death of the revered leader, but analysts and observers on Friday were speculating that Tehran would consider Soleimani’s death an act of war.
Tens of thousands rally in Iran capital against US ‘crimes’
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Tehran to protest against American “crimes”, an AFP correspondent reported, after US strikes killed a top Iranian commander in Baghdad Friday.
Chanting “Death to America” and holding up posters of the slain commander, Qasem Soleimani, the demonstrators filled streets for several blocks in central Tehran after Friday prayers.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps confirmed the commander of its Quds Force foreign operations arm had been killed by US forces in Baghdad.
Women and men, many of them elderly, took part in the procession, some holding up portraits of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“The axis of any evil is America, the motto of religion and the Koran is death to America,” they said in unison.
“O leader of our revolution, condolences, condolences.”
State news agency IRNA said there were similar demonstrations in the cities of Arak, Bojnourd, Hamedan, Hormozgan, Sanandaj, Semnan, Shiraz and Yazd.
News of the death of Soleimani, one of Iran’s most popular public figures, also saw people hold impromptu gatherings in his central hometown of Kerman.
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Subject: Re: The Qasem Soleimani assassination / Iraq / Iran (merged threads) Fri Jan 03, 2020 9:58 am
Fuck Iran.
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Temple Regular Member
Posts : 7317 Join date : 2014-07-29
Subject: Re: The Qasem Soleimani assassination / Iraq / Iran (merged threads) Fri Jan 03, 2020 1:17 pm
Iraq’s most powerful Shiite religious leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, said in a speech during Friday prayers that the country must brace for “very difficult times.”
In Iran, a hard-line adviser to the country’s supreme leader who led prayers in Tehran likened U.S. troops in Iraq to “insidious beasts" and said they should be swept from the region.
“I am telling Americans, especially Trump, we will take a revenge that will change their daylight into to a nighttime darkness," said the cleric, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami.
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Temple Regular Member
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Subject: Russian State Media Blames Impeachment for Trump’s Iran Strike .. Fri Jan 03, 2020 1:51 pm
Published Jan. 03, 2020 3:33PM ET
Russian State Media Blames Impeachment for Trump’s Iran Strike ((snip) “For Donald Trump, the annihilation of an Iranian General presents a decent opportunity for a domestic PR campaign,” one Kremlin columnist said.
RIA Novosti columnist Irina Alksnis opined that the strike “lays bare the weakness of the United States.” She wrote, “Geopolitically, the US is weakening before our very eyes. They are hopelessly bogged down in their previous military adventures (Afghanistan, Iraq) and do not risk getting into new ones even when they are openly challenged (like the DPRK). Americans are steadily losing political positions in the Middle East. Russia, Turkey and Iran are stepping on their heels. Washington simply does not have the strength to challenge Moscow in Syria or Tehran in Iraq. What used to be the U.S.’ grandiose military potential has now been reduced to the possibility of conducting a targeted special operation to eliminate an objectionable figure.”
Alksnis described Soleimani’s liquidation as a public relations move for the president. “For Donald Trump, the annihilation of an Iranian General presents a decent opportunity for a domestic PR campaign, which is quite timely in the context of the upcoming elections,” Alksnis concluded.
Russian state television reporter Valentin Bogdanov of Rossiya-24 blamed Soleimani’s killing on Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic party, stating that “without being hounded by the impeachment, Trump would not have attempted to solve his domestic political problems at the expense of foreign policy.”
Meanwhile, rising tensions between the U.S. and Iran have proven to be beneficial for the Russian stock market. Oil prices soared following Soleimani killing and the Moscow Stock Exchange reached an all-time record levels, rising to the highest point in its history.
Subject: Re: The Qasem Soleimani assassination / Iraq / Iran (merged threads) Fri Jan 03, 2020 2:18 pm
Quote :
“I am telling Americans, especially Trump, we will take a revenge that will change their daylight into to a nighttime darkness," said the cleric, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami.
So an islamic preacher is making threats towards Trump and Americans ...Then what?
Temple Regular Member
Posts : 7317 Join date : 2014-07-29
Subject: Re: The Qasem Soleimani assassination / Iraq / Iran (merged threads) Fri Jan 03, 2020 3:01 pm
Ofer Cassif, a parliamentarian from the majority Arab Joint List party, tweeted the gravest note of caution to those “popping open bottles of champagne today.”
“You don’t understand that Suleimani’s killing may lead to an attack against Israel,” he said. “If American bullying ends up costing Israeli lives, it will be on the hands of Trump and his criminal fugitive pal Netanyahu.”
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The Wise And Powerful Admin
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Subject: Re: The Qasem Soleimani assassination / Iraq / Iran (merged threads) Fri Jan 03, 2020 5:04 pm
Democrats Hate Trump More Than They Hate Terrorists Who Kill Americans Democratic 2020 candidates and outspoken celebrities jump through hoops to use the death of the world's most violent terrorist to attack Trump. By Madeline Osburn, JANUARY 3, 2020
A U.S. airstrike killed the world’s most violent and deadliest terrorist of the last 20 years on Thursday night, but in the eyes of 2020 Democratic candidates and lefty celebrities, the only important takeaway from this American victory is that President Trump is bad.
Trump’s authorization of the killing of Iranian Revolutionary Guard terrorist leader Qasem Soleimani is a vindication for the thousands of wounded veterans, many with missing limbs from Soleimani’s IED attacks, and the families of U.S. servicemembers Soleimani killed. Soleimani approved the Tuesday attack on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad and was plotting to kill more Americans. He was a central connection between Iran and terrorist organizations, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Palestinian Hamas. Yet some Democrats find it difficult to celebrate his death.
Despite the fact that Soleimani’s death will save American lives, Sen. Cory Booker said on MSNBC it is Trump who is “making the world less of a safe place.” Within an hour of the news of Soleimani’s death on Thursday, Booker appeared on CNN asserting that Trump, “has had really a failure in his Iranian policy.”
Although it was President Obama who shipped $150 billion in cash to Iran, emboldening terrorists like Soleimani, Booker is convinced that under the Trump administration, “Iran has become more influential and more dangerous.”
Subject: Trump vs Obama ---- Fri Jan 03, 2020 7:19 pm
Trump repeatedly accused Obama of starting a war with Iran to win the US election 3 January 2020
Donald Trump has been accused of hypocrisy after tweets emerged from him saying Barack Obama was trying to start a war in Iran to boost his chances of winning the US election.
The President ordered an airstrike on Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in response to the attack on the US embassy in Baghdad.
However, tweets from nine years ago have emerged in which Mr Trump claimed Obama would target the Middle Eastern country to boost his popularity at home.
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump In order to get elected, @BarackObama will start a war with Iran. 15.8K 1:48 PM - Nov 29, 2011
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump I always said @BarackObama will attack Iran, in some form, prior to the election. 448 2:24 PM - Aug 16, 2012
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump Don't let Obama play the Iran card in order to start a war in order to get elected--be careful Republicans! 5,520 10:43 AM - Oct 22, 2012
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump I predict that President Obama will at some point attack Iran in order to save face! 4,577 3:23 PM - Sep 16, 2013
President Obama spent two terms in office and did not order any military attack on Iran.
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Subject: Re: The Qasem Soleimani assassination / Iraq / Iran (merged threads) Fri Jan 03, 2020 9:22 pm
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