Of Qassem Soleimani
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WWW.TEHRANTIMES.COM I N T E R N A T I O N A L D A I L Y 16 Pages Price 40,000 Rials 1.00 EURO 4.00 AED 39th year No.13571 Saturday JANUARY 4, 2020 Dey 14, 1398 Jumada Al Awwal 8, 1441 Esmail Gha’ani Lebanon’s Hezbollah Iranian sportspersons Iranian celebs express named new chief will continue condemn ‘U.S. assassination’ sympathy over martyrdom of IRGC Quds Force 2 Soleimani’s path 13 of General Soleimani 15 of Soleimani 16 Leader vows revenge for Gen. Soleimani’s martyrdom Photo Illustration by Bahman Vakhshour #HardRevenge See page 2 Tehran Times/ Tehran Times/ EDITORIAL Trump may have given Iran an unintended assist ARTICLE Mohammad Ghaderi By Martin Love helped rid the country of most of ISIS and be obliged vote on whether to try to eject the Syed Zafar Mehdi Tehran Times editor-in-chief NORTH CAROLINA — What with all the who, at least, seemed to have assisted the U.S. military altogether. The anger now is cu- Journalist @ghaderi62 recent movements and protests in Baghdad U.S. in this task. Hasn’t that been the stated mulative, it seems. George H.W. Bush almost from New Delhi around the U.S. embassy in the Green Zone reason the U.S. troops are in Iraq, to help 30 years ago pushed Saddam Hussein out of resulting from the U.S. attacks on elements of clean out the foreign terrorists? What, in fact, Kuwait. An estimated 200,000 Iraqi citizens Soleimani was a Iraq’s and Syria’s national defenses, and then really accounts for the presence or reintro- died. In the 1990’s sanctions murdered some We are all Soleimani “culture” and a the blame game against Iran, it’s no wonder that duction of roughly 5000 U.S. troops in Iraq 500,000 Iraqi children, and then in 2003 George today confusion reigns. And in Iraq the confusion is a while back? It is or has become apparent W. Bush invaded the country and murdered that this was probably a lie, and observers at least a million citizens and destroyed the culture cannot be bleeding with U.S. attacks on Hashd al-Sha’abi ast year, while felicitating him with know that over the past years there have country’s infrastructure. The attacks this past (officially a part of the Iraqi army) positions the country’s highest honor, the Su- been many instances of the U.S. actually week, allegedly because a single U.S. contractor assassinated and personnel in Baghdad and elsewhere. As preme Leader Sayed Ali Khamenei of Friday morning the U.S. is only becoming shielding, funding and supplying ISIS and died because of a missile attack from an as yet L wished martyrdom for his brave soldier, other terrorists not just in Iraq but in Syria, unknown source, just added gross insult to t 1:20 a.m., several U.S. helicopters more despised in Iraq and the situation there Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s too, even if the U.S. at times also occasionally gross injury, and may have created a long-de- and drones attacked two Poplar is explosive. elite Quds Force. On the blessed night of attacked ISIS. layed tipping point. It has to be one of the most Mobilization Units vehicles near The Trump Administration seems unable Friday, the wish came true and the ‘living A But first one must address the anger at the perplexing questions of this century: why Iraq an airport in Iraq that led to the martyr- to grasp the fact that the Iraqis who stormed martyr’ bade us adieu. U.S. now, and what is MOST remarkable is the has not for the past decade at least demanded dom of Commander Qassem Soleimani, the embassy perimeters were just flat angry I always took pride in writing about failure of the U.S. time and again the under- a U.S. exit and the closure of the monstrous Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes and nine of PMU at the slaughter of some two dozen of their this revolutionary warrior of Islam, who stand why the Iraqi parliament may finally embassy in Baghdad? forces. soldiers or militia, the very people who had 7 singlehandedly took on the ‘gangsters’ of U.S. terrorist forces claimed the re- the world from Washington to Tel Aviv, sponsibility of the strike, increasing their and valiantly led the fight against the ISIS flights over Baghdad’s sky hours earlier, U.S. oil workers leaving Iraq after air strike in Syria and Iraq. But I never imagined seizing its air space and violating the Iraqi writing an obituary for him. Life can be sovereignty. World reacts to U.S. killing of Iran’s Qassem Soleimani in Iraq a tough taskmaster. The American terrorists, who have the Dozens of U.S. citizens working for foreign A U.S. air strike in Baghdad that killed it — that would have put dozens if not hun- It never struck me that he could blood of millions of people in the world oil companies in the southern Iraqi oil city a top Iranian commander aimed to disrupt dreds of American lives at risk. We know it leave us like this even though he on their hands, assassinated General of Basra were leaving the country on Friday, an “imminent attack” that would have en- was imminent,” Pompeo told CNN. literally lived on the razor’s edge. Soleimani, in the hope of getting rid of the Oil Ministry said, after a U.S. air strike dangered Americans in the Middle East, “These were threats that were located He was on the ‘most-wanted-list’ their nightmares. They should know killed a top Iranian commander in Iraq. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in the region,” Pompeo added. “Last night of all rogue regimes and escaped that Soleimani was not a person, rather The U.S. embassy in Baghdad urged all in television interviews on Friday. was the time that we needed to strike to assassination bids many times. His a culture based on resistance, defending its citizens to leave Iraq immediately, hours Pompeo, in interviews on Fox News and make sure that this imminent attack ... was unflinching faith and extraordinary the oppressed, and roughly confronting after the U.S. killed Iranian Quds Force leader CNN, declined to discuss many details of disrupted.” courage always helped him prevail international terrorism. Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi militia com- the alleged threat but said it was “an intel- Pompeo said the United States remains over his enemies, who failed in all The culture has originated from the mander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. ligence based assessment” that drove the committed to de-escalation with Iran but their devious attempts to track him. uprising of Imam Hussain (A.S.) on the Iraqi officials said the evacuation would U.S. decision to target Qassem Soleimani, will defend itself. He added that the United As the Supreme Leader famously day of Ashura. As the nightmares of vil- not affect operations, production or exports. the commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force. States has fortified its assets in the region remarked, he was a ‘living martyr’. lainous Yazid did not end by shedding Pompeo says U.S. strike in re- “He was actively plotting in the region to and is prepared for any possible retaliation, I had heard and read a lot about Gen. Imam Hussain’s blood and his caliphate sponse to imminent attack take actions — a big action as he described including a cyberattack. 13 Soleimani before I came to Iran in the was not stabilized, the Yazidis’ nightmare summer of 2018. His charismatic person- in the White House will not end and will ality, his powerful oratory, his astounding speed up their collapse. Iranians hold intrepidness, his gentle demeanor and The stupid American leaders assumed his unmatched devotion to the ideals that they can defeat the axis of resist- rallies, urging of Islamic revolution were some of the ance by assassinating General Soleimani. traits that appealed to me. After almost They martyred a commander, who was a year in Iran, I had a chance to meet a sincere soldier in the God’s path and revenge for him at a ceremony to mark the death loved by the oppressed people all around anniversary of the founder of Islamic the world, and further stained their his- Soleimani revolution Imam Khomeini in Tehran tory, ignoring the fact that the “culture last year. and ideology of resistance” cannot be assassination I found myself just two rows behind assassinated. him in the jam-packed mausoleum of The resistance movement against tyran- TEHRAN — Hundreds of thousands of Irani- Imam, while the Supreme Leader de- ny and arrogance has not been stopped with ans, angry over the assassination of IRGC Quds livered a thoughtful speech. His love the assassination of former commanders in Force Chief Major General Qassem Soleimani, and admiration for the Supreme Leader Iran, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen held rallies across the country on Friday urging was extraordinarily beautiful. It was a and Syria and it will not be terminated revenge for his death. relationship of a soldier with his com- this time either. General Soleimani was martyred in a U.S. mander in chief. After the ceremony The horrific assassination of com- Maryam Kamyab air strike on Baghdad’s international airport was over, I noticed all top government mander Soleimani by the U.S. is a clear on Friday morning. The Pentagon announced and military officials huddling around sign of the decline and collapse of the that President Trump had ordered the attack him.