PAris: Global powers warned on Friday that the world became a more dangerous place after the US military killed General Qasem Soleimani, the powerful commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, in a drone strike in Iraq on Friday to protect American personnel abroad, dramatically escalating hostilities between the arch-rivals and spiking tensions in the already volatile Persian Gulf region.
Britain and Germany also suggested that Iran shared some blame for provoking the targeted killing that dramatically ratcheted up tensions in the Mideast.
China, Russia and France, all permanent members of the UN Security Council, took a dim view of the US airstrike that killed Soleimani and several of his associates.
The White House justified the strike with a tweet alleging that Soleimani “was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region”.
There were immediate threats of vengeance from Iran.
Social media flooded with alarm, with Twitter users morbidly turning “WWIII” into the top trending term worldwide.
“We are waking up in a more dangerous world. Military escalation is always dangerous,” France’s deputy minister for foreign affairs, Amelie de Montchalin, told RTL radio.
“When such actions, such operations, take place, we see that escalation is underway.”
Russia likewise characterised the deadly US strike as “fraught with serious consequences”.
A Foreign Ministry statement warned that “such actions don’t help resolve complicated problems in the Middle East, but instead lead to a new round of escalating tensions”.
Trump’s election opponents characterized the killing as reckless, with Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden saying the US president “tossed a stick of dynamite into a tinderbox”.
China described itself as “highly concerned”.
“Peace in the Middle East and the Gulf region should be preserved,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said in a reaction on Friday.
But while echoing the concerns of other Security Council members about spiraling tensions, Britain and Germany broke ranks, voicing qualified understanding for the US position.
German government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer described the US strike as “a reaction to a whole series of military provocations for which Iran bears responsibility,” pointing to attacks on tankers and a Saudi oil facility, among other events.
A top European Union official, Charles Michel, said “The risk is a generalized flare up of violence in the whole region and the rise of obscure forces of terrorism that thrive at times of religious and nationalist tensions.”
Trump also won the support of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “for acting swiftly, forcefully and decisively”.
Behind the scenes, the strike triggered urgent flurries of diplomatic activity. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo worked phones, calling world capitals to defend Trump’s decision. He said the US is committed to de-escalating tensions that have soared since Iranian-backed militia killed an American contractor and the US responded with strikes on the militia.
That set off violent pro-Iran protests outside the US Embassy in Baghdad, which in turn set the stage for the killing of Soleimani.
In the Mideast, the strike provoked waves of shock, fury and fears of worse to come.
Iraq’s most powerful Shiite religious leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, said in a speech during Friday prayers that the country must brace for “very difficult times”. (AP)
