While the approaches of different US leaders toward relations with Iran have ebbed and flowed over the years, they have also demonstrated remarkable unity in opposing the Islamic Republic’s autonomy and prosperity.
In the opening days of 2020, Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) Quds Force, was killed by a US drone strike outside Baghdad International Airport. Soleimani was traveling with a host of leading figures from Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), including deputy commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
Afshin Rattansi, host of RT’s “Going Underground,” recently spoke with the slain general’s daughter, Zaynab Soleimani, who condemned outgoing US President Donald Trump and incoming US President-elect Joe Biden in equal terms.
“No American will mourn Qassem Soleimani’s passing,” Biden said in a statement tweeted on January 2, when news of Soliemani’s death broke in the US. “He deserved to be brought to justice for his crimes against American troops and thousands of innocents throughout the region. He supported terror and sowed chaos.”
In reality, Soleimani’s close association with the PMF stems from his leadership of Iran and Iraq’s joint fight against Daesh, in which the PMF played a major role in evicting the terrorist group from Iraq and its eventual downfall.
However, Biden has also signaled his willingness to depart from Trump’s policy and return to the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran that Trump unilaterally torpedoed in 2018.
The deal stipulated that Iran would abandon its nuclear weapons program and retain only a small quantity of radioactive material for nuclear power plants and medical research, and in exchange the US and its allies would lower strangling economic sanctions against Iran. When Trump claimed against all evidence that Iran had broken the deal, the sanctions returned, crippling the country’s economy.
Biden’s Iranian counterpart, President Hassan Rouhani, has signaled a willingness to cooperate, but noted that renegotiating the JCPOA was not on the table.
Biden was confirmed as president-elect by the US Electoral College on Monday and will be sworn in as US president on January 20, 2021.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
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