US Analyst: Revenge Awaits Perpetrators of Gen. Soleimani’s Assassination

“The assassination of the General enraged countless millions of people throughout the region and the retaliation for General Soleimani’s assassination will come. It was a militantly arrogant act that achieved nothing for the US, Israel, the Saudis, or other states hostile to Iran. It accomplished the opposite, providing further proof of US pariah state status,” Stephen Lendman told Tasnim.

Stephen Lendman is a writer, syndicated columnist, activist, News TV personality, and radio show host. He currently writes for MoneyNewsNow.com and VeteransToday.com and hosts, since 2007, a progressive radio show at The Progressive Radio News Hour on The Progressive Radio Network.

The following is the full text of the interview:

Tasnim: As you know, the US assassinated Lieutenant General Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), along with Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy head of Iraq’s Hashd al-Sha’abi, and their companions under the direction of Donald Trump on Jan 3. Why do you think the US president ordered the killing of the top anti-terror commander?

Lendman: Trump ordered the assassination of Iranian Quds Force Commander General Qassem Soleimani on January 3 — the one-year anniversary of his martyrdom up in days. A disinformation statement by the US war department falsely claimed that his elimination was “to protect US personnel abroad” —  a bald-faced Big Lie. He was assassinated for being instrumental in defeating the scourge of US-supported ISIS (Daesh) in Iraq and elsewhere regionally — disrupting Washington’s imperial aims. The killing had nothing to do with protecting Americans anywhere in the region or elsewhere. Trump’s war department falsely claimed otherwise, a failed attempt to whitewash cold-blooded murder.

Throughout the post-WW II period, the US committed high crimes of war and against humanity, color revolutions and old-fashioned coups, as well as assassinations of anti-imperial freedom fighters like General Soleimani. Its ruling regimes crushed dozens of popular movements, slaughtering millions of people post-9/11 alone.

All of the above was along with pouring countless trillions down a black hole of waste, fraud and abuse at the expense of vital homeland needs gone begging, eroding social justice, targeted for elimination altogether.

The US interferes in the internal affairs of virtually all other countries, demanding subservience to its interests. Ones unwilling to sell their souls to Washington are targeted for regime change, their leaders and senior officials targeted for elimination. Millions of corpses attest to America’s barbarity, a rogue state like no others in world history, operating globally, willing to risk destroying planet earth to own it, the human cost of its wars, and other harshness of no consequence to its ruling authorities.

The late William Blum called democracy “America’s deadliest export,” the way it should be banned in the US and other Western countries.

US ruling authorities want sovereign independent nations replaced by pro-Western puppet regimes. Washington wages war by hot and other means against all nations free from its control.

All of the above is what the scourge of imperialism is all about — humanity’s greatest threat. When exposed to the light of day, US history reveals its dark side since the 19th century.

Last September, Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif slammed Trump for ordering General Soleimani’s assassination.

Calling what happened “a great mistake,” he stressed that “the book” on what happened “is not closed,” adding: “I’m not in the business of making threats.” Retaliation for what happened is for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to decide. Earlier he called Iran’s strike on the Pentagon’s Ein Al-Assad Iraqi base days after Soleimani’s killing a “slap in the face” alone.

At the time, he stressed that revenge the way it’s warranted won’t be fulfilled until hostile US occupying forces are gone and no longer threaten regional peace, stability and security.

IRGC commander General Hossein Salami earlier called for “decisive and real” revenge against US individuals who “played direct and indirect roles” in Soleimani’s assassination.

Last month, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (Secretary) Ali Shamkhani said “(h)arsher revenge is on the way” — with no further elaboration.

Stressing what happened is “no small matter, Ayatollah Khamenei said the following: “The Islamic Republic of Iran will never forget this issue and will definitely deal a counterblow to the Americans.”

Last Sunday, Iranian Parliament Speaker's Special Aide for International Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian said the following: “Naturally, the issue of harsh revenge is seriously on the agenda of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and it will be carried out by appropriate means in a proper time, although people have already given perpetrators of the crime several slaps across the face.”

He added that Iran’s Judiciary has names of 48 US individuals involved in Soleimani’s assassination — directly or indirectly, wanting them tried for cold-blooded murder.

The assassination of the General enraged countless millions of people throughout the region and the retaliation for General Soleimani’s assassination will come. It was a militantly arrogant act that achieved nothing for the US, Israel, the Saudis, or other states hostile to Iran. It accomplished the opposite, providing further proof of US pariah state status.

Tasnim: The US claims that it is a leading proponent of world peace, stability, and mutual cooperation with other countries. What do you think?

Lendman: US imperial rage poses an unparalleled threat to world peace, stability and security for countless millions of people worldwide who yearn to breathe free from its aim for global dominance no matter how harmful to freedom-loving societies everywhere.