ArmInfo.The assassination of Qasem Soleimani, followed by Tehran's withdrawal from the nuclear agreement, is evidence of the return of the United States and Iran to the proxy war phase. A similar opinion was expressed by ArmInfo, the head of the Public Council of Armenia, director of the Armenian Institute of International Relations and Security Stepan Safaryan.
An influential Iranian general, commander of the special forces of the Al-Quds Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Qasem Soleimani, was killed on the night of January 2, 3, as a result of a U.S. Air Force strike at the Baghdad airport by order of US President Donald Trump. Together with Soleimani, the deputy head of the Shiite militia "Al-Hashd al-Shaabi" Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and several others were killed. "In principle, this stage resumed with the US withdrawing from a nuclear agreement with Iran. Attaining this agreement, at first glance, the relationship between Tehran and Washington turned into an incomparably more calm and constructive course. However, with the advent of Donald Trump in the US "An increase in tension in relations with Iran is inevitable. The US withdrawal from the nuclear deal meant a total change in the rules of the game," he said.
Under the new rules, the United States, according to the analyst, seeks to again put the Iranians at the negotiating table, however, on much more stringent conditions. Tehran, in turn, is well aware that this time negotiations and restrictions will not be limited exclusively to Iran's nuclear program. Washington will try to take control of the production of Iranian missiles, other related issues.
In this light, the entire period following the termination of the nuclear deal by the United States, Washington and Tehran openly pursued a policy of intimidation against each other. And the liquidation of Soleimani with the subsequent exit from the nuclear deal is already Tehran - part of this policy. Which in turn means the return of relations between the two countries to the stage of proxy wars.
The assassination of Soleimani, according to Safaryan, is only part of a mediated war between the US and Iran. And such diversions, according to his forecasts, will be many on both sides. At the same time, the analyst considers the elimination of the Iranian military as a punishment for the destruction of an American drone by the Iranians, the arrest of several western vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, and the shelling of the US embassy in Baghdad.
"In my opinion, these proxies of war are already at their peak, because the parties are well aware of the impossibility of a direct war. Both the United States and Iran are not interested in this. In this light, proxies of war in Iraq are inevitable. So far the political layer in these wars is very large, which leaves a chance to resolve this round of confrontation. First of all, given the lack of mutual interest in a big war, "Safaryan summed up.
Note that the killing of Soleimani has already led to an exacerbation of the situation in the Middle East. On January 5, the Iraqi parliament ordered the government to "put an end to the military presence of foreign forces and cease work under the security agreement concluded with the forces of the international anti- terror coalition." In response, on January 7, US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper told reporters that the Pentagon has no plans to withdraw troops from Iraq. Esper also said that the United States will follow the "laws of armed conflict" with respect to Iran. Iran, in turn, announced its withdrawal from the nuclear deal.