MIDDLE EAST (Washington Insider Magazine) – As the second anniversary of General Qassem Soleimani’s death was remembered in Iran on January 3, 2022, President Ebrahim Raisi has called for former President Donald Trump to stand trial for Soliemani’s killing, or face revenge from Tehran. Raisi demanded that President Trump and former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo should be tried in a “fair court” for the assisination or Muslims would take their “martyr’s revenge.”
As one of the Generals responsible for Iran’s Quds forces, Soleimani was notorious for his oversight of countless assassinations and assassination attempts across the world in such places as the U.S., Germany, Argentina and India.
He was also believed to be responsible for the deaths of over 600 U.S. military in Iraq, as a result of enhanced IEDs, which also wounded thousands of U.S. service men and women. As a leader of the Quds forces, which was designated to be a terrorist organization, Soleimani would have been a legitimate military target.
At the time, according to former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the targeted drone strike which killed Soleimani was not retribution for his past actions, but to prevent an imminent attack against U.S. Troops and diplomats in Iraq and other parts of the region. Because of the immediacy of the reported planned attack, President Trump was not required to notify Congress in advance (covered by the President’s powers under Article Two in the U.S. Constitution.)
The attack on Soleimani was carried out on January 3, 2020, outside of the Baghdad International Airport, as 2 drones fired several missiles at 2 cars containing Iranian and Iraqi officials who were with him.
At the Baghdad airport on January 2, 2022, where supporters of Iran-backed militia were gathered to remember Soleimani, chanting anti-American slogans, officials were intent on calling for revenge and threatening that revenge to take place from within America from “within their homes, …..without our presence,” according to Iranian Revolutionary Guard Brigadier General Esmail Ghaani. He also stated, “We will get revenge that you will not forget for the rest of your life.”
Meanwhile, on Monday, January 3, 2022, two armed drones were shot down upon their approach to Baghdad International Airport. The Iraqi military base attached to the airport hosts U.S. military and coalition forces. Photos of parts of the downed drones appeared on social media showing the phrase “operations of the leaders’ revenge” painted on a wing from the wreckage. This seemed to be a reference to the assissanation of General Qassam Soleimani two years prior.
Will they be successful in orchestrating a revenge attack from inside America? Only time will tell. But as long as our borders remain open and porous, their chances increase. These threats have been made several times to the United States to reiterate the need for retribution for the deaths of key leaders of the Jihad, so we must remain prepared.