The USA has assassinated one of Iran's top Generals at Baghdad aitport

[chomalungma]

AIBU to think this will lead to just more escalation in what is already a volatile area, given all the issues in Iran at the moment, the proxy wars, the recent arrival of US troops in Iraq.

We also have some British troops in Iraq, as well as Royal Navy ships in the region. This escalation affects us as well.

This person who was assassinated does have blood on his hands www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/03/who-is-qassem-suleimani-profile-iran but does a drone strike killing of him.

The response from Iran

"The Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said on Twitter: “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.”

What consequences will there be?

The Saudis are hardly covering themselves in glory in the Middle East!!

I would hate to be an American citizen right now

Why? This won't affect the vast majority of Americans in the slightest. America has the greatest geostrategic advantage going - it can start wars in the Middle East without being affected whatsoever.

Iran cannot strike the continental US. It can only attack US airbases & US allies within the Middle East.

As always, Middle Easterners will pay the price. I'm scared for ordinary Iraqis, Iranians and Syrians.

Trump is using this to start a war to carry him through the next election (and impeachment).

Same tactic used by Thatcher/Falkland's War.

God knows how many innocent people will die along the way.

It may be the case that Trump's methods are effective and he doesn't pussyfoot around but he is clearly a fan of authoritarianism and dictatorships, that is the direction that he wants to take America in and that is a backwards direction.
He does not want to lead a democracy he wants to rule a kingdom with divine right, he is regressive, he wants to take humanity backwards so that he can increase his own power.
He's not a leader he's a predator, an exploiter

This is bad and i mean really bad. He is the second most powerful person in iran, lead the quds force, extremely close friend with the supreme leader and his death will not be taken lightly. Imagine what the reaction would be if they had took out the usa vice president, it's at that level.

While all out war may not happen, we can expect retaliation in many other forms, from increased terrorist funding and support, cyber attacks, clandestine operations by iran on foreign soil, closing of the strait, increasing influence in iraq and syria, destabilising the region further to draw the usa into proxy wars. Mark my words, this ain't goint to be pretty

Fear not. Dominic Raab has appealed for calm.

Trump's goal is to create as much chaos fear and confusion as possible so as to distract attention away from the proceedings against him in his own country

Trump is using this to start a war to carry him through the next election

2 things.

1. He doesn't need to, he's miles ahead in the polls.
2. Iran started this by launching an attack on the US embassy only last week, but strangely no one started a thread about that.

Why? This won't affect the vast majority of Americans in the slightest

Does Iran not have nuclear weapons? I mean, hopefully they won’t use them but who knows?

foreignpolicy.com/2019/07/01/how-close-is-iran-to-a-nuclear-bomb-really/

Ok, so no nuclear weapons but a load of enriched uranium and possibly may be able to build a nuclear weapon within a couple of years.

Does Iran not have nuclear weapons? I mean, hopefully they won’t use them but who knows?

A) Iran doesn't have the capability to strike the US. Even if it manages to develop fully operational nuclear weapons, it still won't be able to reach the US - it's not like it has a military base in Cuba it can use as a launchpad.

B) Even if Iran did have the capability to launch a nuclear strike on Washington, America could wipe Iran out entirely, probably a hundred times over. No Iranian leader would strike the US with nuclear weapons - it would be suicide.

The whole Iranian situation has been escalating for ages. Tensions over the nuclear deal and the sanctions in Iran have led us here.

No Iranian leader would strike the US with nuclear weapons - it would be suicide.

Indeed, and no fanatical Islamists would ever consider that.

I can't be sorry he's dead though. He was a nasty piece of work.

You don't need to do a nuclear strike to have a big impact. And all the nuclear weapons in the world don't help protect you. This can only escalate. It does not help bring anyone to a negotiating table

"Trump is using this to start a war to carry him through the next election
He doesn't need to, he's miles ahead in the polls."

WRONG - Trump is behind in half the polls against the main Democratic contenders

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationwideopinionnpollingforrthe20200UnitedStatesspresidential_election

The election could be very close, but 11 months ahead is far too early for anyone to be complacent
We don't even know who the Democrat's candidate will be

Trump will want the boost that a war can bring him

• he kept warning Obama would start a war for electoral purposes, which shows how Trump's mind works

Personally, I think Trumps methods are effective. He doesn't pussyfoot around. He takes decisive action
Usually when someone has dented his paper thin ego.

Saying he's miles ahead in the polls is some stretch of the imagination. The most recent one polled 1,000 people. Yes, 1,000. In a country of 345 million.

However if you want to talk polls, 47.8% support impeaching him. 46.0% oppose it. That poll is 2 days old.

Kelly Magsamen
@kellymagsamen
I worked the Iran account for years at the NSC under two Presidents. I’m honestly terrified right now that we don’t have a functioning national security process to evaluate options and prepare for contingencies. God help us.

Iran won't launch a nuclear strike, but may well increase support for terrorism against Western targets
whether military or civilian

Especially what they regard as "soft" targets, including US allies.

In the past, they've launched action against the Royal Navy, e.g. twice capturing sailors,
because the UK was powerless to do anything and the US didn't bother as it wasn't their people

They could also use terrorist cells within the UK, as the US in the past has only launched retaliatory strikes after attacks on its own people.

The UK needs to stay out of Trump's posturing and wars of distraction

As an American, I don't think there is ANYTHING Trump could do to have the country united behind him. He is by far the most divisive politician anyone living as an American today could have possibly imagined.

I realize that he had to have supporters to have been elected, but I know so very many of us never even considered him becoming president as a serious possibility. It has been proven that there was outside interference in the election, so maybe that's what happened? A lot of us are baffled.

Being a proud American is not synonymous with being a Trump supporter.

Johnson should concentrate on getting Nazanin released - especially since his blundering added to her sentence

I bet the outgoing Iraqi PM knew about the drone strike, and the U.S. must have had very firm intelligence of movements to hit at that particular moment.

As for no NATO approval, Turkey doesn't have NATO approval for what it is doing to the Kurds at the moment in Syria.

NATO will not be the slightest restraint on Trump - neither will the UN, or international law

NATO is a defence pact, which isn't too scrupullous about the members it allows
e.g. Turkey now and other fascist dictatorships in the past

My view on this, is that we should never refer to other people/countries as "terrorists" if we carry out terrorist attacks around the World.
Drone attacks and assasinations are terrorist attacks.

The danger with Iran is the vast proxy army it has in the shape of militias and paramilitaries. They also see the US and UK as one and the same. Over the last few days I had noticed a few Shia lead attacks going on. This has to be a result of that.