Name? Houssein Salami
Westphalian identity? Iranian
Age? 60
Why is he in the news? As a general in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Salami ordered: “our [Iran’s] naval forces to destroy any American terrorist force in the Persian Gulf that threatens [the] security of Iran’s military or non-military ships.” This led to the great Commander in Tweet to, you guessed it, tweet to his troops that they were authorized to shoot down and destroy any Iranian gunboats if they harass American ships at sea.
Why do we care? Well, we somehow managed to avoid a full-fledged war between the U.S. and Iran already in early January, we’d like to keep up that streak, especially given the latest circumstances…
Why should you care? If you’re American, you should care that your president is giving more attention to another nation’s ‘supposed satellite launches’ than to its own health crisis. If you’re any other nationality, you care because, once again, foreign affairs don’t stop for some little virus. Iran is taking full advantage of the current crisis to promote itself domestically (satellite launches), regionally (pushing to open its border with Iraq), and internationally (boldly challenging the U.S. while the nation pushes to its breaking point).
Who else cares? Iraq, as they have their own conflict with Iran currently as Iran continues to push for an open border between the two nations, regardless of either country’s case count.
Any further comments? As analysts, politicians and leaders begin to choose sides as to whether the U.S. should be more aggressive against Iran or if Trump should back down and focus on the crisis at home, it’s interesting to note that Trump recently received a letter from 50 former senior U.S. officials and experts on Iran accusing the country of using Covid19 as a reason to pressure the U.S. to ease sanctions. It seems President Trump also believes this to be the case as he has refused to ease sanctions regardless of how many world leaders pressure him to do so.
