In a new report, Michael Eisenstadt explores Iran’s gray zone strategy of operating between war and peace. The following is the executive summary from the report, available in full here from The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Dec. 27: Kataib Hezbollah, an Iraqi militia backed by Iran, launched rockets at the K1 military base near Kirkuk, which housed U.S. military service members and Iraqi personnel. The attack killed a U.S. civilian contractor and wounded four U.S. service members and two Iraqis.
As of January 2020, the United States possessed an overwhelming advantage in conventional military capabilities in the Persian Gulf – dominating in both air and naval power. But Iran’s unconventional capabilities, along with its array of short- and medium-range ballistic missiles, posed a threat to American assets and partner forces.
On January 4, Iranian newspapers from across the political spectrum devoted their front pages to memorializing Qassem Soleimani. The head of the elite Qods Force was killed early the previous day in a U.S. drone strike on Baghdad International Airport. Newspapers described Soleimani as a national hero and a martyr. They also highlighted pledges of revenge by Iran’s political and military leaders. The following is roundup of front pages and translations by IFP News.
U.S. lawmakers had mixed responses to killing of Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s elite Qods Force. The split was largely along party lines. Republicans supported the assassination of the general, whom the United States held responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American servicemembers in the region.
European powers expressed solidarity with the United States over the targeting of anti-ISIS coalition forces in Iraq. They highlighted their concern about Iran’s interventions across the Middle East. But they also called for de-escalation after the United States killed Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike early on January 3 (January 2 U.S. time). “We call on all parties to exercise utmost restraint and responsibility,” said the leaders of Britain, France and Germany in a joint statement.
On January 2, the U.S. Department of Defense announced that it had killed Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Qods Force, in a drone strike at Baghdad’s International Airport. The Qods Force is the external operations wing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), designated a foreign terrorist organization by Washington. The Pentagon alleged that Soleimani had orchestrated multiple attacks on U.S. forces and allies in late 2019, including a December 27 attack on a coalition base near Kirkuk that killed a U.S. civilian contractor.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reached out to U.S. allies in the wider Middle East and Europe to discuss the killing of Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Qods Force. In calls with top officials, Pompeo reiterated shared concerns about Iran’s interventions across the region. The following are readouts from the State Department of his conversations.
January 3, 2019
On January 3, Secretary of State Pompeo alleged that Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Qods Force, was planning an “imminent attack” on Americans. In several interviews with the press, he argued that the United States would have been negligent if it had not killed the general in a drone strike on January 2. “The American people would have said that we weren’t doing the right thing to protect and defend American lives,” he told NBC on January 5. But he declined to offer details about the plot other than that dozens, if not hundreds, of American lives were at stake.
