The decision to assassinate Soleimani was taken 14 months ago – Analyst
Ramallah – North-Press Agency
Ahmad Ismail
The Israeli political analyst Eli Nissan has revealed to North-Press that the decision to kill the leader of the Iranian "Quds Force" Qasem Soleimani near Baghdad Airport, was taken by the United States and Israel about 14 months ago (a year and a half). While the American NBC TV network talked about Israeli intelligence assistance for the United States in the assassination of the Iranian general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, through information, however, Nissan considered that Israel does not bear the responsibility for the assassination, despite acknowledging continuous U.S.-Israeli intelligence cooperation against what he described as "sabotage operations in the Middle East," as he said.
Nissan added that other Iranian military figures were among the targets set by the United States, but the U.S. President chose to make Soleimani "a target for assassination", because of the increasing pace of his operations in the Middle East against the American interests.
"There was an opportunity to assassinate Qasem Soleimani when he traveled from Damascus to Baghdad, where accurate intelligence information were available which led to his assassination," Nissan added.
Nissan believes that the decision to assassinate Soleimani was taken some 14 months ago after Qasem Soleimani undertook "hostile activity" against the U.S. interests in the Middle East, including shooting down a U.S. drone and targeting other interests of the United States, including the besiege of ships in the Gulf waters, and that is why Trump had a score to settle with Soleimani.
It is worth noting that the intelligence services in Tel Aviv recently revealed that Israel was intending to assassinate Soleimani years ago when the opportunity came, but the administration of the former U.S. President Barack Obama, prevented Israel from doing so.
On the regard of whether Soleimani's assassination will establish subsequent negotiations between the U.S. and Iran and reduce the tensions between them, the Israeli analyst considered during his interview with North-Press that this is the big question, indicating that no one knows the answer and what developments will bear in the end. Nevertheless, Eli Nissan stressed that neither Washington nor Tehran want an all-out war.