WITH one single act – ordering the killing of a top Iranian general – United States President Donald Trump last Friday set off events with dire repercussions on the whole world.
Trump ordered the killing of Qasem Soleimani, chief of the Quds foreign operations of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who was in an Iraqi convoy at the international airport of Baghdad, Iraq. Also killed in the same incident was Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy chief of lraq’s paramilitary force Hashed al-Shaabi, which has close ties to Iran. The Pentagon said the operation was carried out by US drones.
In the US Congress, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the attack was carried out without consultation with Congress. Under the US Constitution, Congress is supposed to approve any declaration of war by US forces. The US House of Representatives has already voted to impeach Trump for allegedly abusing his powers in dealing with Ukraine and in obstructing Congress, but the Republlcan-controlled Senate is expected to clear him.
Trump’s real battle, it is believed, will be in the national election in November when he seeks reelection. And he surely must know that voters are likely to support their president in a war with Iran as a result of the assassination.
To the world as a whole, America’s killing of Iran’s top commander raises fears of widespread and renewed conflict on many fronts. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed to take “severe revenge” for the killing. This fear of a widening of the war is shared by Russia, China, France, and other nations who have appealed for restraint from all sides.
Another fear was aired this weekend – that with the assassination and escalation of tensions in the Middle East, oil exports from the region are likely to suffer, resulting in rising world oil prices. Even without new violence in US-Iran relations, the world’s oil supply from its biggest source, the Middle East, could sink to new lows. That would really hit hard at the whole world, including the Philippines.
