US VS IRAN: THE NEW BEGINNING OF AN OLD BRAWL

President Donald Trump of United State claimed he ordered the assassination of Iran Military leader, Qasem Soleimani, in a bid to “to stop a war.”

This action taken by the President of United State has generated a lot of controversies and mix feelings among citizens of the two countries and the world at large, in which there have been speculation of an ensuring war. Be that as it may, there is a need to understand that for over five decades, the relationship between US and Iran has been thorny. Taking you down memory lane. The then Prime Minster of Iran, Mohammad Mossadeq was ousted in a coup d’etat orchestrated by US and British intelligence in 1953, replacing him with indulgent monarch, known as the Shah.

Due to the enthroned Shah, Iranians revolted and he was forced to exile in 1979 before ayatollah Khome returned after which Islamic Republic of Iran was proclaimed.

The Protest against US enthroned leader continued between 1979-1981 which led to hostage of American for months before some were released while others who escaped at the embassy where smuggled out of the country. It was also noted that an illegal transaction of secret weapon where shipped to Iran as an exchanged for the hostages which created crisis for Reagan, former president of U.S.

In 1988, 290 Iranians who were on their way to Mecca on flight, were killed by American warship USS Vincennes after which the US claimed it was mistaken the plane for a fighter jet.

During Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government in 2002, Iran denied a claimed by the U.S. government of Programming clandestine nuclear weapons which led to sanctions by the United Nation supported by European Nations and United states that affected the economic growth of Iran.

For the first time in a while, when Iran President, Hassan Rouhani resumed office in 2013, he spoke with President Barack Obama on phone. After which a nuclear Program diplomatic deal was agreed upon with then P5+1 world power – the US, UK, France, China, Russia and Germany.

In 2018, this deal was abandoned by President Donald Trump who further enforced economic sanction against Iran; it becomes worse in May 2019 when the sanction was tightened especially against the exportation of Iran’s oil.

This led to agitation from Iran, which made US to accuse the country of explosions that hit six oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman in June 2019. This made Iran to draw back from the committed nuclear deal.

Early this year, January 3, Gen Qasem Soleimani, was killed by a US drone strike in Iraq on January 3rd 2020. Which President Donald Trump claimed to be “to stop a war.” This has made Iran to pull back from 2015 nuclear deal and also vowed for “severe revenge”

Just after that, on January 8, 2020 Iran retaliated with a ballistic missile attack on air bases housing US forces in Iraq. The missile attacks were believed to have had zero casualties. Around this period, a passenger plane heading toward Tehran from Ukraine was shot down, killing all 176 passengers on board. Iran later admitted to mistakenly shooting down the plane due human error.

While the US vs Iran conflict seem to be taking new turns and shape every now and then, there seem to be no end in sight to this long lasting brawl and whether or not it will eventually degenerate into war, only time will tell. For now, we can only keep our fingers crossed in hope that the conflict between these two countries will not be the tipping point for a third world war.

OLUWASEUN AFOLABI

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fatherlandgazette@gmail.com

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