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Iran has reacted strongly to US’ act of killing the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, General Qassem Soleimani, an “extremely dangerous and a foolish” escalation.
The US had carried out a strike near Baghdad’s international airport killing Soleimani, a US-designated terrorist, along with six others on the direction of President Donald Trump. Washington had accused Soleimani of orchestrating several attacks on coalition bases in Iraq including the December 27 attack in which American and Iraqi personnel were killed.
Iran Foreign Minister Javed Zarif took to Twitter soon after Pentagon confirmed the killing of Soleimani. He said that Washington bears responsibility for all consequences of its “rogue adventurism”.
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.
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) January 3, 2020
“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,” Zarif tweeted.
The latest air strike has now further escalated the tensions between the United States and Iran. The attack has come days after an Iran-backed militia and other protestors attacked the United States Embassy in Baghdad.
The attack on the embassy came as a retaliation to a deadly US airstrike that killed at least 25 people of the Popular Mobilization Forces. The US has vowed to take action against the breach by protesters. Earlier in the day, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said it’s time for Iran to start “acting like a normal country”.
Further, reports coming say that US lawmakers were not told of the attack ordered by President Donald Trump on top Iranian military commander, Qasem Soleimani.
The US strike conducted against Soleimani “went forward with no notification or consultation with Congress,” House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Eliot Engel said in a statement.
While Democrats conceded that Soleimani was “the mastermind of immense violence” who has “the blood of Americans on his hands,” “to push ahead with an action of this gravity without involving Congress raises serious legal problems and is an affront to Congress’s powers as a coequal branch of government,” the statement by a Democrat said.
