The parliament’s decision comes days after the bodies of General Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Mohandis, deputy commander of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) and four of their Iranian companions began making their way through holy cities in Iraq and Iran. Millions of people mourned and called for revenge for the US drone strike which killed Soleimani and nine others near Baghdad airport in the early hours of Friday.
“In order to shore the defensive capabilities of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the government is obliged to provide 200 million euros from the National Development Fund to this force,” read a newly-added clause to a bill that had designated part of the US army a terrorist entity last April.
Enacted last April, the original bill labeled the US Central Command (CENTCOM) a terrorist entity, in response to the designation of the IRGC as a terrorist entity by the US government. The new bill extends that designation, stating that “all the members of Pentagon, the companies, and affiliated institutions, the commanders and those responsible for the martyrdom of … Qasem Soleimani” ought to be recognized as terrorist entities.
Of the 234 parliamentarians in attendance, 229 voted in its favor. Three opposed the bill, and two abstained.
Qasem Soleimani death comes after months of piqued tension between Tehran and Washington and its regional allies. Mysterious attacks on oil tankers, drone and missile strikes on Saudi Arabian oil facilities, the IRGC’s shooting down of a US spy drone in the Persian Gulf and repeated attacks on US bases in Iraq brought the region to the brink of war.
Last April, the US State Department made the unprecedented move of designating the entire IRGC a Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO), accusing it of perpetrating the death of at least 603 American service members in Iraq, from 2003 until US forces withdrew from the country in 2011.
The IRGC was causing regional instability through its involved in terrorist activities across the region, the State Department said; in return, Iran blamed instability on the presence of thousands of American soldiers in the region. In a tit-for-tat move, Iran labeled CENTCOM as a terrorist organisation.
Thirteen options
“#One-word-revenge,” read the trail of a long white banner carried through the streets on Tehran on Monday.
Hours after the killing of Soleimani, participants of a Supreme National Security meeting discussed over a dozen options for revenge. Making a rare appearance was Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the New York Times, quoting three Iranian sources, reported on Monday; he told attendees that retaliation should be proportional and carried out directly by Iranian forces - not a proxy.
“Even the weakest of the 13 options for revenge would be a historic nightmare for America, but because of some considerations, we are not able to divulge more information to the media,” Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani said on Tuesday.
“If the American forces do not leave the region on their own while upright, we’ll do something so that their corpses leave supine.”
In response to the lethal US strike, Iran took its fifth step back from the landmark 2015 nuclear deal on Sunday, vowing to suspend all limits placed on enrichment - though it said it would continue cooperating with the International Energy Agency Organisation (IAEA).
To international outcry, President Trump has in turn threatened to target cultural sites in Iran, an illegal act of warfare. He was contradicted by his defense secretary, who said the US military would follow the laws of armed conflict in the event of war.
Soleimani’s killing has also sparked fiery debate on the future of the US-led anti-Islamic State (ISIS) coalition in Iraq, whose withdrawal could have dire consequences in the fight against the militant group’s persistent remnants. Iraqi parliament responded to the killing on its territory by passing a non-binding resolution to expel all American and other foreign forces present in the country.
Addressing mourners in Soleimani’s hometown of Kerman on Tuesday morning, top IRGC commander Hossein Salami vowed Iran would exact decisive revenge on those who killed Soleimani.
Soleimani “prevented the US domination of Iraq and did not allow the US successes in Iraq against Saddam to be translated into power and political clout,” Salami told the crowd.
“We are strong willed and we will take revenge, and if they make another move, we will set ablaze the place they love and revere: they know themselves where that is.”
