National Interest: Trump drag the Gulf to the brink of war

Former Iranian diplomat Syed Hossein Mousavian said that US President Donald Trump "recklessly" pushed the Gulf region towards the brink of war after he issued orders to kill the commander of the Quds Force, General Qassem Soleimani, earlier this month.

In an article in the National Interest magazine, Musavian added that he has no doubt that the impact of the assassination of the Iranian military commander will not only be limited to US-Iranian relations, but will extend to the region and beyond.

Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy chief of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization, were killed on January 3 in a raid by an American march plane that targeted a car they were riding near the airport in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

12 consequence
Musavian, who is now a researcher at Princeton University in the US, claims in his article that the assassination of Soleimani and his fellow engineer will result in 12 consequences.

First: Trump's "delusions and obsessions" prevented him from acknowledging the reality and objective facts, which could lead to "real disasters".

Musavian reported that David Wormser - who works as a consultant to the US National Security Council - had instructed the White House that many Iranians would welcome a strike on a senior Iranian military commander, such as Soleimani.

Second: The “thundering crowds” of the masses that participated in the funeral of the Qassem Soleimani’s corpses in Iran and Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis in Iraq simply show that the Quds Force and the Popular Mobilization Forces enjoy “tremendous social support,” which US forces in the region lack, National Interest.

Third: The fact that the Quds Force and the PMF are at the forefront of those fighting “terrorist” organizations such as the Islamic State, the Jabhat al-Nusra, and al-Qaeda, were not hidden even from Trump and the anti-Iranian politicians.

From today onwards - and the conversation is still to Musavian - most Iranians and Iraqis will not believe the US "allegations" of fighting the Islamic State, but will in fact consider it a "hidden or anonymous" ally.

Fourth: Washington's public recognition of its responsibility for the assassination of a senior Iranian military commander for the first time is considered a "precedent" in the history of relations between the two countries, prompting Tehran to strike two large American bases inside Iraq. Musavian claims that no country in the world has succeeded in attacking an American base since World War II.

Fifth, the US President said, after Iran's response to Soleimani's killing, that Washington and Tehran must "embrace peace", and that they can work together. However, Musavian describes this as a "delusion and miscalculation", because the assassination of Soleimani made diplomacy more difficult, and reaching a "feasible" deal with Iran is unlikely.

Sixth: The United States and Iran have always traded accusations of bloodshed each other. However, by killing a senior Iranian military commander, America proved beyond any doubt - in the writer's opinion - that it was she who spilled Iranian blood.

Seventh: The author believes that the Trump administration has made the Iranians' lives miserable by causing unprecedented economic hardships for them by adopting a policy of "maximum pressure" on their country. This has led to unrest in many cities in Iran.

But after Soleimani was killed, the Iranians took to the streets to "express their sympathy and solidarity," which prompted Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to view this as a "revival of social unity and solidarity" among the Iranian people that must be preserved.

Eighth: The American invasion of Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, Washington's support for the war that Saddam Hussein launched against Iran, its alliance with Saudi Arabia in Yemen, and its support for the Israeli occupation of Palestine are all factors that helped to strengthen the resistance forces.

Soleimani's "martyrdom" and the engineer caused "scars in the hearts of the peoples" of the region, which contributed to perpetuating a permanent grudge against the United States, according to Musavian, who insists that America has never won "and will never win" a guerrilla war or an irregular war at all.

Ninth: In the opinion of the author, Europe and NATO have already committed grave errors by supporting their indirect support or direct participation in wars and military occupations in the Middle East.

On the other hand - the former researcher and diplomat adds - the eastern powers, especially Russia, China and India, seized the opportunity and gained acceptance and approval of their condemnation of the assassination and their sympathy for Iran and Iraq.

Tenth: Before the assassination of Soleimani and the engineer by the United States, Iran had launched in September 2019 the "Hormuz Peace Initiative" aimed at reducing conflict and establishing dialogue between countries in the region, but that opportunity "was dramatically aborted," according to the author's description.

The article pointed out that it later revealed that America's allies in the region, especially Israel, participated in the assassination of Soleimani and the engineer.

Eleven: After Iran attacked US military bases in Iraq, and shot down a US airliner in 2018, Washington's allies will now realize that they will be the main victims in the event of a war between Iran and America.

Twelve: In the era after the joint comprehensive plan of action (the nuclear agreement with Iran), the West intentionally harassed Tehran "urgently" for retaining its missile capabilities, using this as an excuse to pressure it.

According to Musavian, the West has seen Iran's "categorical" refusal to give up its missile capabilities, despite knowing its importance in Tehran's defense strategy.