Tension in the Middle East on the rise after death of American civilian
Samantha Martin, Staff Writer
Photo courtesy of Unsplash.com.
Tensions between the Middle East and U.S. are once again on the rise following recent attacks by Iranian backed militias.
On December 29, 2019, U.S. military drones carried out five airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, in regions under the control of the Kata’ib Hezbollah. The airstrikes were in retaliation of a December 27rocket attack on an Iraqi military base housing American military personnel and civilian contractors. One American civilian contractor was killed, and several military members had been injured in the rocket attacks.
The recent events in the Middle East are following strong political stances taking place as far back as 2018.
A promise of the Trump administration was the withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) if the deal could not be fixed. JCPOA was a nuclear deal backed by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany (P5+1), however the plan was flawed and as the Trump administration saw that the plan was irreparable, President Donald Trump announced the U.S. would withdraw on May 8, 2018. Following this, the U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, released an outline of 12 demands expected of Iran, or the U.S. would enact severe economic sanctions upon the Middle East nation. By August 7, Iran still had not agreed to U.S. terms and so the first round of sanctions were put back into play (they had been lifted as a part of the JCPOA agreement) and the second round initiated November 5, specifically targeting oil and banking sectors.
In 2019, Trump escalated the situation further by announcing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (a branch of the Iranian Armed Forces) would be considered as a foreign terrorist organization imposing economic and travel sanctions upon the group, the first time Washington has done so. In response, Iran declared the U.S. a “state sponsor of terrorism” and called American forces in the region terrorist groups.
The then-U.S. National Security Advisor, John Bolton announced strike groups and Air Force bombers would be sent in response to “troubling and escalatory indications and warnings” stating that these forces “have been ordered to the region as a deterrence to what has been seen as potential preparations by Iranian forces.”
In an interview with Steve Hilton, Trump said, “I just don’t want them [Iran] to have nuclear weapons and they can’t be threatening us.”
Though the current political climate of the Middle East seems to be at the brink of war, this is not the wish of our president.
“I’m not somebody that wants to go into war; war hurts economies, war kills people most importantly,” Trump said.
However, some of Trumps recent tweets express that though the U.S. won’t be inciting conflict, we will not back down should we be attacked.
“If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran. Never threaten the United States again!” Trump posted on Twitter.
These strong words have some worried but looking to trust that God is in control of the situation and will guide the leaders in the way that they should go.
“I honestly don’t know enough about the Middle East to speak on it very well. I’m honestly just praying for our leaders, and hope they are making wise decisions in that area,” senior broadcast media major Autumn Lowry said.
The situation remains tumultuous, as U.S. airstrikes on January 3 killed Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, Iraqi militia [Hezbollah] leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandisand six others.
Iran’s response called the attack an act of international terrorism and President Hassan Rouhani said “Iran and other free nations of the region will take revenge for this gruesome crime from criminal America.”
With U.S. troops deployed as “deterrence”, it begs the question what further actions the U.S. may have to take.
