Soleimani strike will create uncertain ripples beyond the Middle East
It is not clear whether the US killing of the Iranian military leader will make the region less or more violent
In killing Iran’s Maj-Gen Qassem Soleimani in an air strike near Baghdad’s international airport, Donald Trump has taken a geostrategic risk it is almost impossible to imagine from any other US president. Its hugely unpredictable effect is already being felt well beyond the Middle East — and right now, no-one can really know what that will mean.
In some respects, of course, the strike is simply the latest escalation in a years-long proxy confrontation that has raged across the Middle East for almost two decades. From Syria to Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon and beyond, it is a confrontation that has already killed hundreds of thousands. Throughout the last year in particular, it has been clear that Iran and its adversaries had been tearing up the rule book, with high-profile attacks on tankers in the Gulf and Saudi energy infrastructure...
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