This Thursday in U.S. time, the Trump administration majorly escalated ongoing tension with Iran via killing their Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani, who’s been described as the second-in-command inside the country. The president’s team did not apparently consult with Congress at all ahead of the attack, no matter its security implications, and former Vice President turned leading Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has now joined the chorus of those denouncing the administration’s recklessness. In short, he points out that President Donald Trump may have now dragged the U.S. into further military conflict without the competence necessary to navigate the situation safely.
The president and his allies have pointed out that Soleimani had led numerous attacks against Americans and incidents of terrorism in general, but Biden pointed out that no matter the executed general’s crimes, the recklessly endangering security implications of taking out that political leader can not be missed.
He noted:
‘[This] is a hugely escalatory attack in an already dangerous region. The Administration’s statement says that its goal is to deter future attacks by Iran, but this action almost certainly will have the opposite effect. President Trump just tossed a stick of dynamite into a tinderbox, and he owes the American people an explanation of the strategy and plan to keep safe our troops and embassy personnel, our people and our interests, both here at home and abroad.’
My statement on the killing of Qassem Soleimani. pic.twitter.com/4Q9tlLAYFB
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) January 3, 2020
Iran’s Supreme Leader has already insisted that “harsh retaliation is waiting” following the death of the Quds Force leader, although exactly what that means remains to be seen. Still, the clear escalation of potentially deadly tension comes after another dictatorship did the same in the face of Trump’s belligerence. North Korea recently announced plans to lift an internal moratorium on nuclear testing — indicating just how hollow many foreign policy “victories” that the president has claimed really are.
It’s unclear what further attempts at an explanation may be forthcoming from the White House. On Friday morning, the day after the attack (which took place in Iraq), Trump began repeatedly taunting Iran on Twitter, claiming that they’ve “never won a war,” as if the whole issue is just some kind of flippant ego fuel and not a potential danger to the lives of Americans.
Iran never won a war, but never lost a negotiation!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2020
Check out Twitter’s response…
