In hindsight: an opinion on Iran

Published 3 years ago -


Tyler Cullen, Copy Editor

On January 3, 2020 just a few days after the start of the new year, the United States carried out a drone strike ordered by President Trump. This military operation was successfully able to kill the infamous Iranian military leader Qasem Soleimani. At the time of his death, Soleimani was a major general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which made him one of the most powerful and influential men in the country. While many viewed this as a valid and strategic military operation, others viewed it as an unnecessary act of violence that only further escalated the tensions between the U.S. and Iran. Regardless of where you stand on the latest tensions with Iran, there are a few things that need to be made clear. The first is that we are not going to war. The president clearly stated in a press conference shortly after the attacks “we did not take action to start a war.” Secondly, when it comes to scenarios regarding politics and foreign relations, it is important to note that not everything is as simple as it seems. America always seems to be in a difficult position in deciding whether to intervene in foreign affairs. However, the one thing that is absolutely certain is that Americans are safer with Soleimani dead.

The fact of the matter is that Qasem Soleimani was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Americans. He was in charge of planning and carrying out several military operations, and supplying I.E.Ds to Iraq that were also responsible for hundreds of American deaths. Keep in mind these are just American troops, and even more American allies in the region have been killed at the hands of Soleimani. Soleimani was the head of one of the most dangerous terrorist organizations in the world, the Iranian Quds Force, which is why he was a high priority target. Now of course it makes sense that every action the U.S. makes can come with various consequences. However, America cannot simply sit back and just take blow after blow at the expense of our own military. The American embassy was attacked with the support of Soleimani, and then in retaliation missiles were fired at an American military base. It is absurd to stand for the actions of Iran without taking action ourselves. It is understandable that many Americans fear conflict with Iran, and other nations in the Middle East, but some have gone as far as to tweet out apologies, and blame our government, for simply taking action to prevent a terrorist from further plotting to kill American troops. While there were recent instances of Soleimani carrying out attacks on the military base, and the embassy, there were also many plans that involved future attacks. Therefore, it is safe to say that Soleimani was a clear and imminent threat to the U.S. The last thing that needs to happen in the face of American foreign policy with Iran is more partisanship, and divisiveness within the domestic sphere. It is also time for people to stop apologizing for something that needed to be done as the president said, to “prevent a war.” The truth is that even before this military operation was carried out, American foreign relations with Iran were never peaceful. In hindsight, the operation by the military to attack and kill Soleimani was the correct move, and we can only hope that U.S. tensions with Iran begin to simmer down in the near future.

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