{"id":8722,"date":"2021-01-19T09:57:08","date_gmt":"2021-01-19T06:57:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/?p=8722"},"modified":"2021-05-30T10:52:29","modified_gmt":"2021-05-30T07:52:29","slug":"iran-fails-to-execute-the-hard-revenge-it-vowed-a-year-after-soleimanis-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/monitoring-and-translation\/reports\/iran-fails-to-execute-the-hard-revenge-it-vowed-a-year-after-soleimanis-death\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran Fails to Execute the \u201cHard Revenge\u201d It Vowed a Year After Soleimani\u2019s Death"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Despite\u00a0 the killing of Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani by US forces in Iraq in January 2020, Iran did not deliver the\u00a0 \u201chard revenge\u201d<\/a> it had promised. Soleimani was killed by a US rocket strike in the vicinity of Baghdad\u2019s international airport. His killing signified US military might in the Middle East, and thwarted Iran\u2019s attempts to widen its influence in the region without fear of US retaliation.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response to the killing of Soleimani, Iran launched missile attacks\u00a0targeting two Iraqi bases housing US forces.\u00a0 However, Iran had sent an official verbal message to Iraq, forewarning that it would target US forces. This was a clear indication that Iran could not afford to enter a full blown conflict with the United States. To avert national criticism over its extremely limited action, Iran claimed that its regional allies urged it to show military restraint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), recently\u00a0acknowledged that last year\u2019s missile attacks targeting US forces in Iraq were not meant to kill or injure US forces. Iran\u2019s offensive actions\u00a0last year were probably a continuation of Soleimani\u2019s military stratagem in the Middle East. However, despite its offensive operations, Iran did not succeed in gaining\u00a0 Washington\u2019s recognition in relation to its regional influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran did not halt its offensive operations: in March 2020, Iranian-backed militias attacked Iraq\u2019s  Camp Taji.<\/a> This  led to the killing of two Americans and a British national, but again, it fell short of the \u201chard revenge\u201d that Iran had promised to deliver in response to the killing of Soleimani.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 There is a possibility that the attack intended  to signal Tehran\u2019s deterrent capabilities<\/a> to Washington amid  the rising  political tensions between the two countries.  Iran\u2019s envoy at the United Nations, Majid Takht Ravanchi<\/a>, had promised military action at some point, but the \u201chardliner\u201d member of Iran\u2019s Parliament, Mojtaba Zolnouri<\/a>, vowed that  Tehran would never start a war over the killing of Soleimani. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tehran took no further large-scale military actions to avenge Soleimani\u2019s killing. <\/a>\u00a0Soleimani\u2019s successor Esmail Qaani<\/a> said that\u00a0 Iran would act and indicated that those responsible for Soleimani\u2019s killing would not be able to escape justice. Qaani<\/a> even managed to raise concerns that an Iranian-led attack might take place on US soil, or that the US Central Command as well as several top US officials including President Donald Trump<\/a> would be targeted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0Apparently, Iran does not have the military power it has been boasting about. Iran\u2019s inability to enact\u00a0 the \u201chard revenge<\/a>\u201d it had promised in response to Soleimani\u2019s killing indicates a potential decline in Tehran\u2019s military power\u00a0 in spite of the fact that\u00a0 the IRGC has claimed it has spent\u00a0$17 billion to build Iranian influence in the Middle East<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran\u2019s standing is undermined by its constant bragging about its tremendous influence in the region, which is not reflective of the ground reality. In January, the Iranian-backed Houthi militia in Yemen was designated by the United States as a terrorist group<\/a>. The recent attacks launched by militias close to Iran  targeting Yemen\u2019s legitimate government<\/a>, and the US Embassy in Iraq<\/a>, have isolated Iran further and international pressure increases on Tehran to end its  belligerency in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This January in Lebanon, people protested when posters of Soleimani were mounted on monuments in Beirut\u2019s suburbs<\/a>. The Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah<\/a> movement vowed to avenge Soleimani\u2019s killing, but it has not undertaken any action to date. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iraq\u2019s Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kazimi established closer relations with  the United States  and its Arab allies including Saudi Arabia<\/a>, despite  the fact that  Iran  has a considerable amount of  influence over  Iraq\u2019s government. Tehran was also unable to pressure Kazimi to adopt a soft policy towards Iranian proxies<\/a> operating inside Iraq after Soleimani\u2019s killing.  The Iraqi people believe that  one of their government\u2019s main challenges is to disarm the Iranian-backed militias mushrooming across the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For now, Iran is trying to depict a false image of\u00a0 invincibility to uphold Soleimani\u2019s legacy. To mark the anniversary of his death, Iran organized demonstrations<\/a> in Baghdad\u2019s Tahrir Square<\/a> to prove that it retains\u00a0 influence in Iraq.\u00a0 However, according to some observers, the protests were likely initiated by Iran\u00a0 to dissuade\u00a0 Washington from launching an attack against it\u00a0 in the remaining days of the Trump administration, taking into account\u00a0that Washington and Tehran are locked in a political and military deadlock<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In late December, to put Iran on the back foot, the Pentagon flexed its military muscle by dispatching\u00a0 an aircraft carrier, a guided missile submarine, cruisers and long-range bombers to the Gulf.\u00a0In addition, it supported\u00a0 Israeli airstrikes<\/a> against Iranian targets in Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran\u00a0 has claimed that\u00a0the United States and Israel aim to increase tension<\/a>s in the Gulf, adding that it would not\u00a0 provoke a military clash. In response to Washington sending military reinforcements to the Gulf,\u00a0the mood in Tehran is somber, as the Iranian government has been unable to keep US troops\u00a0 at arm\u2019s length.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, Iran is diverting attention from its failings\u00a0by publishing Soleimani\u2019s memoir<\/a> entitled, \u201cI am Not Afraid of Anything.\u201d Zeinab\u00a0 Soleimani<\/a>, who\u00a0the Iranian government uses to keep her father\u2019s legacy alive\u00a0 in Iranian minds,\u00a0 heads the\u00a0 Qassem Soleimani Foundation which promotes\u00a0the so-called \u201cSoleimani doctrine of resistance\u201d against\u00a0 the United States.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to keeping Soleimani\u2019s legacy alive, Iran produces videos and computer games<\/a>\u00a0and publishes books and records songs paying homage to\u00a0 Soleimani and to promote him as a national hero. Iran has invoked a national spirit to motivate\u00a0 Iranian mothers to nurture and train\u00a0their sons to follow in Soleimani\u2019s footsteps.\u00a0It is clear that these attempts to promote Soleimani as a national icon hide Iran\u2019s failure to avenge his killing, with Tehran falling woefully short of the \u201chard revenge\u201d it had promised.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite\u00a0 the killing of Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani by US forces in Iraq in January 2020, Iran did not deliver the\u00a0 \u201chard revenge\u201d it had promised. Soleimani was killed by a US rocket strike in the vicinity of Baghdad\u2019s international airport. His killing signified US military might in the Middle East, and thwarted Iran\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":249,"featured_media":8723,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[503,12,3865],"class_list":["post-8722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reports","tag-hezbollah","tag-iran","tag-soleimani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/249"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8722"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8722\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9131,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8722\/revisions\/9131"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}