100 days later: Who won the war?

By Mahdi Azizi
Tehran Times, April 12, 2020

The assassination of General Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, which was
carried out 100 days ago in a terrorist attack in Baghdad’s international airport, may be
considered the biggest miscalculation and security mistake by the United States ever.

However, the assassination was said to be a unilateral and personal decision by Trump and
some other officials in the White House and the Pentagon, which revealed Trump and his
inner circle’s misunderstanding of the regional events.

Trump made the decision to achieve his desired results. In a rush caused by confusion, the
U.S president sought results that he had imagined could be achieved by the assassination of
Gen. Soleimani.

One of the important driving factors in Trump’s decision-making process and his insane
political approach was to achieve his electoral interests. It was assumed that the
assassination could affect the 2020 election in his favor. Also, by martyring Gen. Soleimani
the White House had the illusion that it can bring the political situation in Iraq under its
control, an issue which was defined by Trump’s domestic goals.

Of course, the pressure applied by the Zionist regime and its interests played an important
role in U.S. decisions. Tel Aviv, meanwhile, was under domestic pressure and failing to form
a cabinet. It also was being threatened by the Lebanese Hezbollah and resistance groups in
Palestine.

It was believed that the main reason for failures of the U.S. and Israel in the region was Iran,
particularly the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force whose commander enjoyed a
charismatic personality.

Numerous political and field achievements and the success of the axis of resistance in
Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, as well as the repeated failures of Saudi Arabia,
as an Israeli-American stooge, are the main reasons that led Trump to make such a decision.

Trump was trying to change the situation in Iran, which had been put under maximum
political and economic pressure, in U.S. favor by assassinating commander Soleimani. Buy
looking at the events that followed the assassination and the regional developments, one
can see Trump's miscalculations and wrong decision.

The assassination of the Quds Force commander was opposed by many Americans. The
opposition emerged even at the political level and worldwide, as many believed Gen.
Soleimani was an important figure in the fight against terrorism and ISIS. They viewed his
assassination in contrast to the U.S. anti-terrorism claims.

According to polls, Trump’s popularity and a chance of winning the next election have even
declined, a matter that he did not expect. Many Americans are well aware that Trump is, in
fact, a tool for implementing the “madman theory”. He has the mission to use American
citizens as a means to meet the goal of 3 percent of the American Jewish community, which
is political and economic exploitation.

Trump may never have predicted that large crowds in Iran, Iraq, Syria, and the countries
classified as members of the axis of resistance would attend the funeral processions for
commander Soleimani. The funeral, which was attended by millions of people, was actually
an anti-U.S. referendum that showed how popular the discourse of the resistance
movement is. In fact, the Americans realized that “Martyr Soleimani” is more alive and more
dangerous for the enemy than “Qassem Soleimani”.

Evaluations showed that most of those who paid homage to Qassem Soleimani before his
martyrdom and looked at him as a hero and legendary commander in the fight against
terrorism, now consider him not as a person but a school.

But another issue that the Americans sought to achieve by assassination was to reduce the
sphere of the influence of the Iranian Islamic resistance movement in Palestine and Iraq.
The Americans assumed by conducting the terrorist attack, they would be able to reduce
Iran’s influence in the region and have more chance to carry out their plans in Iraq.
Therefore, a little while after the assassination, reducing the Iranian influence in the region
becomes a hot button subject for Western media outlets.

This was another huge miscalculation by the Americans. They did not know that in addition
to his commanding and charismatic personality, what made Haj Qassem Soleimani a great
figure, was his quest for a discourse that is being led by Ayatollah Khamenei. It is a discourse
that contains theory and worldview of martyrdom.

Although the martyrdom of Commander Soleimani was a great blow to Iran and the axis of
resistance, it did not mean that Iran would remain inactive from now on. Tehran
immediately appointed Gen. Esmail Qaani as commander of the IRGC Quds Force. The U.S.
has been worried about the new commander since the outset of his appointment and even
spoke of his assassination.

Of course, after a short period of time, the axis of resistance made more achievements,
especially in Syria. All these factors show that today all the countries member to the axis of
resistance are more determined to achieve their goals with respect to martyr Soleimani,
who has now become a school.