US Senate resolution: Suleimani plans attacks outside the Middle East
- January 14, 2020
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One week after the assassination of General Kasem Suleimani, the leader of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Resolution 466 was filed in the US Senate "to pay tribute to members of the US armed forces and intelligence community who carried out the mission killing Kasem Suleimani."
Kasem Suleimani was killed in action by the US military in Iraq by drone attack. It has been declared a terrorist by the US authorities, which is planning attacks against US citizens.
He was also held responsible for the terrorist attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan "in which hundreds of US citizens lost their lives."
The resolution says Suleimani planned "attacks in Germany, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Kenya, Bahrain and Turkey."
The conclusion of this document stated that "the fight against the Iranian Republican Guard, the Kuds unit and all organizations associated with them that pose a threat to US national security will continue."
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The resolution has not yet been adopted, and the Senate has a majority in the Republican Party.
Iran responded to Suleimani's assassination by attacking damage to US military bases in Iraq, but no casualties.
A few hours after the launch of ballistic missiles to Iraq, a Ukrainian airline plane crashed near Tehran.
The Iranian military has acknowledged responsibility for the crash of the plane, in which 176 people lost their lives, declaring that the plane crash was the result of a human error.
Suleimans and the Balkans
Kasem Sulejmani was reportedly in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the war, according to the journalist of the Croatian Vecernji List, Hasan Hajdar Diab.
"Of course I was, but long ago in 1993 or 1994. Wherever the Muslims need help, I am here," Suleimani said in a 2017 interview with Diab.
Retired Iranian Revolutionary Guard general Said Kasemi in an interview with Iran's state-owned portal Apparat in April 2019 spoke about being in Bosnia in the 1990s with IRG members and training Bosniaks.
According to him, the Iranians arrived in Bosnia in Red Crescent uniforms.
Iranian Republican Guard spokesman Ramadan Sharif denied the allegations, claiming that Kasemi's personal apartments were at stake and that his stay in Bosnia had nothing to do with the organization.
The Iranian Red Crescent also denied Kasemi's claims and threatened to sue him.
Kasemi spoke about IRG's involvement a few days after the State Department's decision to treat the military unit as "an international terrorist organization that supports militant groups around the world."
Image copyright AFP
Caption pictured Many citizens of Iran consider Suleimani to be a hero
Suleimani was known for organizing attacks outside the Middle East as well.
In response to the 2012 killing of a Tehran nuclear chemist, believed by Iranian authorities to be responsible for Israel, a suicide bomber carried out a bus attack with Israeli tourists in Bulgaria.
Five Israeli citizens were killed in the July 18, 2012 attack in Burgas and 42 were injured.
Who was Kas e m Suleimani?
Suleimani was a general of the Iranian Republican Guard and the founder of the Kuds unit, whose mission was to spread Iran's Islamic revolution abroad.
He was killed on January 3 in a drone attack after leaving Baghdad airport. He is considered a national hero in Iran and in Washington a terrorist.
Although Suleimani did not graduate from high school, former CIA agent John Megwyer rated him in 2013 as "the most powerful operative in the Middle East."
Suleimani was the main initiator of the spread of Iranian influence in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq.
He planned the attacks, thus solidifying Tehran's relationship with allies in the region.
Media caption The killing of Suleimani: Why America and Iran are bitter enemies
The Trump administration has called the Kuds a mechanism to help and support terrorist groups in the Middle East - including Lebanon's Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The Pentagon's explanation of why Sulejemani was killed not only emphasized his actions, but added that his killing should also deter other adversaries from future actions.
The general reportedly "actively worked out plans to attack US diplomats and embassy staff in Iraq and across the region."
What is a Kuds unit?
The Quds unit, commanded by Suleimani, was in charge of offshore operations within the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and was responsible directly to Supreme Commander Ayatollah Ali Hamnei.
The unit is estimated to have close to 5,000 members.
This unit was sent to Syria to give military advice to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and to arm Shiite groups to fight on their side.
In Iraq, they supported Shiite paramilitary formations in the fight against the Islamic State.
Image copyright Getty Images
Inscription pictured Patrol vessel of the Iranian Republican Guard in front of the British vessel "Stena Impero" which is blocked from passage
Americans allege that the Kuds units funded, trained and supplied the equipment of the organization that Washington declared terrorist.
Experts from the International Institute for Strategic Studies from London say that relations built by Iran in the region (support for Hezbollah in Lebanon, Islamic Jihad in Palestine, Al-Assad fighting groups in Syria, activities in Iraq and Yemen) are a greater security threat to Middle East from the nuclear program.
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Weapons and sanctions on Iran
Economic problems and international sanctions have significantly reduced Iranian imports of military equipment, which is relatively low relative to other countries in the region.
The value of Iranian defense imports in 2009-2018 represents only 3.5 percent of Saudi imports in the same period, according to the Stockholm International Peace Institute.
Tehran supplies military equipment mainly from Russia and a smaller part from China.
The United States has repeatedly imposed sanctions on Iran since the occupation of the Tehran embassy in 1979, and the last time the sanctions were tightened in September 2019 following an alleged attack by Iranian forces on Saudi oil facilities.
The deterioration of relations was preceded by the resignation of US President Donald Trump from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.
Trump argued that the agreement did not suspend Iran's nuclear program development, nor did it limit Iran's "aggressive" influence in the Middle East region.
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