Posted on 01/26/2020 8:28:40 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
Economic sanctions against Iran are having an effect, experts who spoke with The Epoch Times agreed. Yet views diverged on the nature of the impact and on how big of a role sanctions have played in the Islamic regime’s reluctance to escalate after the assassination of a top general.
Gen. Qassem Soleimani was killed in Baghdad on Jan. 3 by a missile fired from a U.S. drone. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the strike a preemptive move to keep Soleimani from executing an “imminent” attack on American assets.
In retaliation, Iranian leaders ordered ballistic missile strikes that on Jan. 8 hit two Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops, inflicting damage and non-life threatening injuries, but no deaths. On the same day, on high alert for signs of U.S. retaliation, Iran’s military shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane, shortly after it had taken off from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport, killing all 176 people on board.
Some reports suggested that Iran’s retaliatory strike, which had been communicated to Iraqi authorities in advance and resulted in no loss of life, was calibrated to avoid military escalation with a powerful adversary.
“What Tehran knew was that a direct attack on the American military would likely have turned the current battle of sanctions and proxies into a hot war between the two countries, one that Iran’s leadership doesn’t want,” Tho Bishop, political consultant and media coordinator for the Mises Institute, told The Epoch Times.
“The degree to which sanctions altered Iran’s military response to the killing of Qasem Soleimani is less obvious,” Bishop added.
Sam Bazzi, a Middle East analyst and founder of the Hezbollah Watch monitoring project, said sanctions were a factor tempering Iran’s response, but because the country still has slack in its economy to absorb them, American military deterrence was the...
(Excerpt) Read more at theepochtimes.com ...
I see the STFU affliction crickets have entered the global elitists pie holes within our interagency 4th branch of government.
This was not the “assasination” of a top general. It was a legitimate military strike on our enemy operating in a combat zone. Even the Epic Times is repeating the propoganda. Obama and even Bush Jr. ordered the exact same type of operations repeatedly.
YEP.
Also believing Iran OR Iraq when they blather on like this is useless. It's like believing China when they blather on about their own greatness or whatever.
If I want TRUTH, or a reasonable facsimile of it, I sure don't go to the Middle East, Asia, Africa, South/Central America, Mexico or Russia.
I read the article very carefully and never saw the word ‘assassination’ used.
What are you referring to?
It is in the first paragraph. Sometimes it is easiest to do a search using "ctrl F" or the like if you are looking for a specific word.
Ooops
If you think that the impact of economic sanctions has an effect upon Iran’s leadership , then you will understand that their leadership also knows that if they get into a shooting match with us, even a brief one, then they will lose a lot of the oil production and refinery capacity in a matter of hours. Now there’s an economic effect for you.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.