US Being Forced to Leave Middle East in Disgrace as Payback for Soleimani’s Death, IRGC Says

Monday will mark the second anniversary of the US drone strike assassination of Qasem Soleimani, an Iranian anti-terror commander who assisted the Iraqi and Syrian governments in their struggle against Daesh (ISIS)*, al-Qaeda* and other terrorist militants.

America being forced to leave the Middle East ‘humiliated’ is one of the forms of restitution Iran will get for the January 2020 murder of Qasem Soleimani, Revolutionary Guard spokesman Ramezan Sharif has said.

“The first recompense that the Americans must pay for the assassination of Martyr Soleimani is to leave the region in humiliation,” Sharif said, speaking to a commemorative event in the northwestern Iranian city of Urmia on Sunday.

“Just as the Americans left Afghanistan in humiliation, so too will they have to leave other countries of the region as well. This will be the first punishment that they have to suffer,” the spokesman said, referring to the unexpected August 2021 collapse of Western-backed government in Afghanistan, two weeks before the US and its NATO allies were set to complete their withdrawal from the country after nearly 20 years of war and occupation.

Sharif praised Soleimani as a visionary who confidently fought terrorists in Syria and Iraq despite initially being outmanned and outgunned.

“Long before the complete defeat of Daesh and US allies in the region, Haj Qasem had promised to defeat them. This was achieved thanks to his command and knowledge of the enemy front and the strength of the resistance front,” the spokesman said, referring to the ‘Axis of Resistance’ – a loose coalition consisting of Iran, the secular Syrian government of President Bashar Assad, Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia, and the Baghdad-allied Shia Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq.

Commenting on America’s waning power in the Middle East, Sharif warned the countries of the Persian Gulf against depending on Washington for support.

At a separate ceremony in Tehran on Sunday, Esmail Qaani, Soleimani’s successor as commander of the elite Revolutionary Guard Quds Force, praised his predecessor as a professional who “established a very good link between the battlefield and diplomacy and was one of the trailblazers and advocates of this logic.”

Qasem #Soleimani, pictured in a white scarf with Kurdish forces in #Iraq (2015) pic.twitter.com/hR6UDta63a

— Endi Zentarmi (@EndiZentarmi) January 6, 2020

During the two decades or so that he commanded the Quds Force, Soleimani worked extensively with the Iraqi and Syrian militiaries, with Kurdish militias, and even with the US (indirectly) in the fight against Daesh’s self-proclaimed ‘caliphate’. Before that, he fought al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Syria and Afghanistan.

Gen. Soleimani saved Christians in Iraq🇮🇶 & Syria🇸🇾.

& That's the mark of true #Hero... To look past the things that divide us & help whoever that is oppressed! pic.twitter.com/W5v1Ihcqdt

— 𝗘𝗵𝘀𝗮𝗻 𝗦𝗮𝗳𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗷𝗮𝗱 🇮🇷 #Soleimani (@Safarnejad_IR) January 2, 2022

Soleimani was killed in US drone strike on 3 January 2020 while on a diplomatic mission in Baghdad aimed at improving Iran’s icy relationship with Saudi Arabia. His assassination brought Tehran and Washington to the brink of war, and the Islamic Republic has repeatedly vowed to avenge the commander’s death.

* A terrorist group outlawed in Russia and many other countries.

** The Taliban is an organization under United Nations sanctions for terrorist activities.