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War between the US and Iran is a lot closer after the assassination of elite general Qasem Soleimani in a drone strike, an expert has told Euronews.
Soraya Lennie, a Middle East analyst from London’s SOAS University, said there were not many positive avenues left for de-escalation after the US attack.
“Iran is a rational state actor,” she said. “However, given the immense pressure from hardline actors domestically, but perhaps also abroad with groups like Hezbollah, it [Iran] is really going to have to walk a tightrope as to how it retaliates and if does indeed retaliate.
“One would think that no-one wants war but we have seen of course in the past couple of years that there are certain state actors within the region who are really pushing the United States towards war and that reality has become closer with the election of Donald Trump and a lot closer with the killing of Qasem Soleimani.
“Given that Iran has really gambled on a nuclear accord that the US has walked away from and Trump has eroded a lot of the critical capital that the reformists had to try diplomacy in Iran, I really don’t see a lot of positive avenues left open to de-escalate this crisis.
Read more at https://www.euronews.com/2020/01/03
