Washington’s Point Man on Iran Issues Stern Warning to Ghaani

The US special representative for Iran says the person who replaced assassinated Iranian general Qasem Soleimani will meet a similar end if he “follows the same path of killing Americans.” Quoted by the London-based Asharq al-Awsat Arabic-language newspaper, Brian Hook issued his warning to Esmail Ghaani, the new head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, which is responsible for clandestine operations abroad and relations with Iranian proxy groups. “This isn’t a new threat,” Hook was quoted as saying. “The president [Donald Trump] has always said that he will always respond decisively to protect American interests. I think the Iranian regime understands now that they cannot attack America and get away with it.” Soleimani, who was killed with nine others during a US drone strike at Baghdad’s international airport, was accused of having ordered pro-Iran militias in Iraq to strike at American servicemen. A US civilian contractor was killed in a rocket attack on a base in Iraq on December 27; the drone strike that killed Soleimani came seven days later, on January 3. Following his appointment, Ghaani proclaimed he would follow the slain general’s “luminous path.”