Haaretz | Washington gave Israel a green light to assassinate Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force, the overseas arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida reported on Monday.
TheAmericanConservative | Speaking at the annual Reagan National
Defense Forum, CIA Director Mike Pompeo recently disclosed that he sent
a direct communication to Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani, the
longtime commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force
division responsible for Iran’s overseas paramilitary and intelligence
activity. “What we were communicating to him in that letter was that we
will hold he and Iran accountable for any attacks on American interests
in Iraq by forces that are under their control,” Pompeo told the audience. “We wanted to make sure he and the leadership in Iran understood that in a way that was crystal clear.”
To some who have operated in the
clandestine and murky world of intelligence tradecraft,
Pompeo’s maneuver was a surprise. Former CIA director Mike Hayden told Newsweek that
he couldn’t recall ever doing such a thing during his tenure, while
others labeled Pompeo’s move a too-clever-by-half strategy to signal
toughness to Soleimani, who retains enormous power and influence within
the Iranian political system.
