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Atlantic Council blogs provide short-form analyses from Council experts and a wider community of global voices on the world’s most important news stories.
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New Atlanticist

Jan 4, 2020

The Soleimani assassination: A view from Britain

By John M. Roberts

While UK political commentators were phrasing Britain’s low-key response to the assassination as even-handedness, the actual response on the ground is likely to be anything but.

Iran Iraq

MENASource

Jan 4, 2020

Russia reacts to the killing of Soleimani

By Mark N. Katz

Moscow, not surprisingly, has reacted negatively to Washington’s announcement that Iranian Quds Brigade Commander, General Qasem Soleimani, was killed in Baghdad in a US drone attack.

Iran Middle East

New Atlanticist

Jan 4, 2020

The implications of the Soleimani assasination

By Peter Westmacott

There will be plenty of people advising the US president that, even with Soleimani gone, the risk of leaving the stage completely is that Iran will find it even easier to fill the vacuum.

Conflict Iran

New Atlanticist

Jan 3, 2020

Questions and certainties in the killing of Qasem Soleimani

By Borzou Daragahi

Just as certainly, the United States’ failing Iran policy has not made Iran militarily weaker or reined in its actions. But it has alienated and frightened US friends in Europe and Asia, who gaped with the same shock at the assassination of Soleimani as the crowd watching King Joffrey order the beheading of Eddard Stark on Game of Thrones.

Conflict Iran
Soleimani

MENASource

Jan 3, 2020

Repercussions for Europe after the US targeted attack on Soleimani

By Michel Duclos

Soleimani's killing came as a kind of strategic surprise in Europe. The general assumption was that the Americans could have had many other opportunities to launch an operation against their arch-enemy in the region.

Conflict Europe & Eurasia
Iran protests Soleimani killing

MENASource

Jan 3, 2020

The assassination of Qasem Soleimani: Likely consequences

By Nabeel Khoury

There is no doubt that Qasem Soleimani was a ruthless leader, however, his death does not eliminate the threat of terrorism and could lead to a spiral of actions and reactions.

Conflict Iran

IranSource

Jan 3, 2020

Iran’s “living martyr” was ready to die, but blindsided oil markets must face new uncertainty

By Sara Vakhshouri

The immediate market reaction indicates that the common sense about this incident is that the US operation did not make the world and the Middle East region—which is responsible for significant volumes of global oil and gas production—a safer place but rather increased the instability and insecurity in the region.

Geopolitics & Energy Security Iran

IranSource

Jan 3, 2020

Death of Soleimani is a mixed blessing for Tehran

By Robert Czulda

On one hand Iran cannot start an open war with the United States, while on the other it has to somehow react to save its reputation as an implacable power facing “global arrogance.”

Iran

New Atlanticist

Jan 3, 2020

Iraq’s parliament may be about to do President Trump a big fat favor

By Kirsten Fontenrose

The biggest favor the Iraqi Parliament can do for US President Donald J. Trump right now is to vote to evict the United States from Iraq. The US president has been clear on his preference for drawing down the US presence in the region rather than beefing it up. Right now, he is asking his advisers why the United States should stay in Iraq, where the two stated missions are to train the Iraqi Security Forces and conduct counterterrorism operations.

Conflict Iran

New Atlanticist

Jan 3, 2020

Soleimani killing threatens to break open US-Iranian conflict

By David A. Wemer

The assassination of a top Iranian military official in Iraq on January 2 is the most dramatic step yet in the ongoing escalation between the United States and Iran in the Middle East.

Conflict Iran