An Iran Expert Explains What to Expect Following Soleimani's Assassination
It didn’t take long for Iran to retaliate for the assassination of Qasem Soleimani. Early Wednesday morning, two U.S. bases in Iraq were hit by missiles fired from Iran, an action Iranian officials termed payback for what Foreign Minister Javad Zarif described as the “cowardly armed attack” that President Trump ordered last week when he killed a top Iranian military officer.
It’s unclear how the Trump administration will respond to Iran’s attack. Even if the president restrains himself, it’s unlikely the tension between the U.S. and Iran will ease any time soon. As Reza Marashi — an Iran expert who served in the State Department’s Office of Iranian Affairs under Presidents Bush and Obama, and later as the first research director the National Iranian American Council — explained to Rolling Stone shortly after Iran’s retaliatory attack, there are still options to de-escalate the situation, but it’s ultimately going to come down to the man in the White House: “This is going to go as far as Trump takes it.”
Prior to the attack, Rolling Stone spoke with Marashi at length about the significance of Soleimani’s assassination, U.S.-Iran relations under Trump, and what to expect from the Middle Eastern nation going forward.
Given that tension between the United States and Iran has been steadily escalating since Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal, how surprised were you by the move to assassinate Soleimani?
Anybody who tells you that they weren’t surprised that the Trump administration took out a senior-level foreign government official is lying. There are very few rules in international relations. One is that you don’t murder foreign government officials in broad daylight. You don’t do it. I think everybody was rightly surprised.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/reza-marashi-interview-iran-soleimani-assassination-934852/
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