‘De facto state of war’: DeBlasio warns New Yorkers of ‘new reality’ in wake of the killing of Iran’s Soleimani

New York mayor Bill de Blasio warned the city that attempted terrorist attacks may follow the US strike on Iranian commander Soleimani, anticipating never-before-seen threats would be unleashed – but told citizens not to panic.

After the strike on Baghdad airport “we are dealing with a different reality,” de Blasio told a press conference on Friday, admitting that “none of us know how this will play out,” as it has been decades since the US confronted “the reality of a war with the government of a large country with an international terror network at its behest.” Previous terror attacks on New York, he pointed out, came from “non-state actors” without Iran's resources.

Warning New Yorkers to maintain “constant vigilance,” he explained that it was “probably unlikely” that anything would happen in the near future, but “my fear is not just about the immediate term – it’s about what happens in the months and even years ahead.”

No one has to be reminded that New York is the number-one terror target in the United States.

Stressing his “absolute confidence” in the New York Police Department – with whom he has clashed on numerous occasions – he nevertheless insisted “there will not be a moment where we let down our guard, particularly where the possibility of hostilities with such a dangerous adversary exist.”

Of course, just because the city might be besieged by frighteningly well-equipped government-backed “terrorists” doesn’t mean New Yorkers should change their routines. Citizens should “continue to go about our lives, unafraid, unaware, always realistic, tough,” de Blasio advised, after he had suitably terrified his audience.

Representatives from the NYPD admitted there are “no specific credible threats,” but pledged to “monitor the threat stream,” and advised New Yorkers that “uniformed officers, many with long guns” would be stationed in “sensitive areas.”

The mayor said he was personally glad that Qassem Soleimani, Iran’s beloved military commander, was dead. But, he added, “we have to assume that this action puts us in a de facto state of war, and that can only be done under the laws of the Constitution.”

“We should not go to war with Iran – it’s extremely dangerous for the American people,” de Blasio said.

While Trump has yet to beg Congress for the green-light to go to war, he has merely followed in the footsteps of Barack Obama, who stretched a 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force that gave the military carte blanche to chase 'Al-Qaeda' into any country to justify his own Middle Eastern adventures.

Curiously, Trump himself has repeatedly said that it was time to end the “endless wars” in the region – something even de Blasio seems to agree with him on, saying that “I think the American people have sent a message in election after election that we want to end all these wars.”

https://www.rt.com/usa/477403-deblasio-nyc-state-war-soleimani/

‘Act of international terrorism’: Iran vows ‘vigorous revenge’ on US after Quds Force chief killed in US airstrike

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif denounced a series of US airstrikes that killed the chief of the elite Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani, as international terrorism, warning the US of consequences of “rogue adventurism.”

In a statement on Soleimani’s death, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei warned that “revenge awaits the criminals who have stained their hands in his blood.” He promised that the airstrike will only “double” Tehran’s resistance against rivals in the region.

Defense Minister Amir Hatami pledged to exact “a crushing revenge” for the death of Soleimani. “We will take revenge on all those involved and responsible for his assassination,” he said.

Mohsen Rezaee, a member of a council that advises Khamenei and a retired major general in the Iran Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), also sent out a tweet on Thursday night vowing swift retaliation for the assassination.

“Martyr [#Qasem Soleimani]… joined his martyred brothers, but we will take vigorous revenge on America,” he said.

A number of US airstrikes near Baghdad International Airport earlier on Thursday left Soleimani and several Iraqi militia leaders dead, with two other Iraqi commanders reportedly arrested by US Marines. The Pentagon later confirmed the strikes, stating they were “aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans.”

A number of American lawmakers also weighed in, some engaging in sabre-rattling, while others, such as Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), sounded the alarm about the prospect of a “massive regional war.”

“If Iran continues to attack America and our allies, they should pay the heaviest of prices, which includes the destruction of their oil refineries,”Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said in a tweet.

An Iranian military spokesman, speaking to the semi-official Fars News agency on condition of anonymity, said the country’s top security body had called a meeting to discuss the “criminal attack” that killed the Quds Force commander.

The Quds Force is the IRGC’s foreign special operations division, which Soleimani headed up since 1998.

https://www.rt.com/news/477355-iran-international-terrorism-us-strike/

Arch-hawk Bolton celebrates slaying of Quds commander as ‘first step to regime change in Tehran’

While there was no shortage of triumphant voices coming from Washington DC on Friday after the targeted assassination of a senior Iranian general, that of John Bolton seemed especially cheerful.

The former national security adviser in the Donald Trump administration took to Twitter to congratulate "all involved in eliminating Qassem Soleimani," the commander of Iran's elite Quds Force.

Hope this is the first step to regime change in Tehran," Bolton quipped.

The mustached cheerleader for any and all foreign interventions ever conceived in the US, Bolton has a long record of advocating a war with the Islamic Republic. He even wrote an opinion piece titled "To Stop Iran's Bomb, Bomb Iran" at the peak of Barack Obama's negotiations with Tehran on the now-scrapped nuclear deal.

Soleimani was killed in a US airstrike as his convoy was traveling outside Baghdad International Airport early on Friday morning. Washington claimed the assassination was an act of self-defense, accusing the Iranian general of plotting attacks on American citizens. Tehran said it was an act of international terrorism and pledged to retaliate.

https://www.rt.com/usa/477386-bolton-cheers-soleimani-death/

Trump tweets after Quds chief killing: ‘Iran never won a war, but never lost a negotiation!’

Following the US assassination of Iran's Quds Force chief Qassem Soleimani, President Donald Trump took to Twitter, issuing a quite cryptic message that Iran has “never won a war, but never lost a negotiation.”

The commander of the elite Quds Force was killed overnight in Baghdad International Airport, alongside with several other high-ranking officials from local pro-Iranian militias.

The assassination was carried out on the personal “direction” of Trump, the US military has said, claiming it was acting to protect America and its citizens. Soleimani was blamed for “the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members”, and was accused of plotting further attacks on the US.

While the killing prompted a lot of self-back-patting among top US officials over a job well done, the US President himself took an apparent conciliatory tone, suggesting that the attack was carried out to push Tehran into negotiations.

In a separate thread, Trump praised himself for the assassination, insisting that Soleimani “killed or badly wounded thousands of Americans over an extended period of time, and was plotting to kill many more,” and therefore“should have been taken out many years ago.” He also claimed that the Quds Force chief was “both hated and feared” in his home country, and that the Iranians “are not nearly as saddened as the leaders will let the outside world believe.”

Earlier in the day, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has called the killing of Soleimani a “defensive action,” and said “the US remains committed to de-escalation.”

But, with the assassination having triggered massive outrage both in Iran and Iraq, any gesture of outreach from the US is bound to fall flat. Tehran has called the attack an “act of international terrorism,” vowing “vigorous revenge on America” for the death of Soleimani.

Iraqi officials have been angered by the airstrike, with PM Adil Abdul Mahdi calling it a “flagrant violation” of its sovereignty. The murder has apparently reinvigorated Iraq's efforts to get the US troops out; the two major parliamentary blocs have called for the adoption of a law mandating the withdrawal of all foreign military personnel from the country.

Influential Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said the killing targeted Iraqi opposition members and extended his condolences to Tehran. He also hinted at the re-establishment of his anti-US militia, known as the Mahdi Army, disbanded over a decade ago, urging its members to get ready to protect Iraq.

https://www.rt.com/usa/477384-trump-iran-war-negotiation/

US killing of Iranian commander on Iraqi soil violates terms of US stationing troops in the country – Iraqi PM

The interim prime minister of Iraq has condemned the US assassination of a senior Iranian commander, calling it an act of aggression against his country. Qassem Soleimani was killed at Baghdad airport.

Soleimani, the commander of the elite Quds Force, was killed after his convoy was hit by US missiles. A deputy commander of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), the Iraqi militia collective backed by Iran, was killed in the same airstrike.

In a statement on Friday, the caretaker leader of Iraq's protest-challenged government, Adil Abdul Mahdi, said the US assassination operation was a "flagrant violation of Iraqi sovereignty" and an insult to the dignity of his country.

He stressed that the US had violated the terms under which American troops are allowed to stay in Iraq with the purpose of training Iraqi troops and fighting the jihadist organization Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS). He added that the killing may trigger a major escalation of violence and result in "a devastating war in Iraq" that will spill out into the region.

The Iraqi government has called on the parliament to hold an emergency session to discuss an appropriate response, Mahdi said.

The killing of Soleimani marks a significant escalation in US confrontation with Iran. Washington considers the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), to which Quds belongs, a terrorist organization and claimed the slain commander was plotting attacks on American citizens.

Tehran said the Quds commander was targeted for his personal contribution to defeating IS in Iraq and Syria. Soleimani drove Iran's support for militias in both countries that fought against the terrorist force.

https://www.rt.com/news/477361-iraq-pm-condemnts-assassination/

All bets are off: Trump brings conflict with Iran to unprecedented level, just a step short of all-out war

The assassination of a popular Iranian general in Baghdad is a game-changer in the conflict between Washington and Tehran, which had remained restricted to cloak-and-dagger shenanigans and proxy hostilities, analysts have told RT.

The Trump administration escalated its standoff with Iran to a whole new level on Friday by ordering a targeted assassination of Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s Quds Force. The Iranian general was blown up along with 11 other people, including a senior commander of an Iraqi militia backed by Tehran, when their motorcade was hit by US guided missiles just outside Baghdad International Airport.

The attack marks a dramatic and extremely dangerous change in US policies vis-à-vis Iran, Middle East-based journalist and writer Ali Rizk told RT.

Trump previously had resorted to what was termed as a ‘maximum pressure campaign’ .. based on economic sanctions trying to choke Iran economically. That policy appears to have failed… Now Trump has resorted to a new policy of targeted assassinations.

Washington claims it was justified in killing Soleimani because the Iranian general was planning attacks on American citizens. As the commander of the commando branch of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), he was directly involved in coordinating the activities of various militia groups in Iraq and Syria. The militias played an essential part in fighting against the terrorist group Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) in both countries, boosting Iranian regional influence and Soleimani’s personal popularity.

The American government, which formally designated the IRGC a terrorist organization amid last year’s growing hostility towards Iran, appears to see no difference between Soleimani and IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was killed in a US raid last October. But, with Soleimani being a senior figure and "part of a state apparatus," this was a dangerous delusion, Rizk believes, adding that the precedent in turn will put crosshairs on every US official.

Iran cannot let the attack simply slide and has already declared it an act of international terrorism. When Washington put the IRGC on its terrorist list, Tehran did the same for the US Central Command (CENTCOM), which seemed like a symbolic gesture at the time. But Iran could now feel justified in targeting any American service member in the Middle East, regardless of his or her rank.

“If [Iran] doesn’t retaliate, it will lose face, it will appear as a very weak player in the Middle East, which allows its senior officials to be assassinated,” said political analyst and filmmaker Andre Vitchek. “If it does retaliate, the US will reserve the right to even annihilate the country, as we saw in the past.”

Trump’s entire policy towards Iran was to put the screws on it without starting an actual shooting war, with the presumable goal of signing a deal better than the Obama-era nuclear multilateral agreement that he had scrapped in 2018. So far both countries have steered away from any direct military engagement, save for a few lost drones.

There were several incidents, such as attacks on oil tankers and Saudi Arabian refinery, which Washington blamed on the IRGC. Iranian militias in Syria also absorbed dozens of attacks, mainly by US ally Israel, which sees the presence of the Tehran-backed fighters there as a threat to its national security.

The killing of Soleimani is unlikely to get much support internationally, with the obvious exceptions of Israel and Saudi Arabia, Rizk said. Depending on how far Tehran goes to avenge its general, it may even leave Trump with little choice but to declare a full-scale war against Iran, an outcome that he tried to avoid but which some in his government, as well as others in Tel Aviv and Riyadh, have been dreaming about. 

More importantly, it sets a dangerous precedent that other nations will be looking at, not least those that the US designates as rivals.“It was like a killing of the joint chief of staff of a country,” Rizk said. “America later on could say: we have the right to target Russian or Chinese military officials. It’s very important for a major power not to let this issue pass.”

https://www.rt.com/news/477404-trump-conflict-iran-unprecedented-war/