By Matthew Morales
CONFLICT: Iran continues to seek revenge for the death of General Qasem Soleimani.
On December 20th, 2020, the embassy of the United States located in Baghdad, Iraq, was attacked with rockets by a suspected Iranian militia. These attacks were alegedly provoked by the assassination of Iranian gerneral, Qasem Soleimani, lead by American forces just a year prior in January 2020. Since then, Iran has threatened the U.S. multiple times, and now has recently warned that “harsh retaliation is waiting.” The question now is this: how far will this conflict go between the United States and Iran, and will there be a war?
Former President Trump sent a threat back in response to this attack on his now-deleted Twitter account saying, “Some friendly health advice to Iran, if one American is killed, I will hold Iran responsible. Think it over.” The United States is now taking every threat and attack from Iran as seriously as possible. During the attack on the US embassy, there was only one casualty, though the United States Central Command, a combatant command group part of the D.o.D., said in a statement that this attack was “clearly not intended to avoid casualties.”
Iran has even moved closer to provoke the United States’ allies as well. In early January of 2021, a group of armed Iranian troops known as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps seized a South Korean tanker in the Persian Gulf. However, reports say that the Korean tanker was given numerous warnings in advance before it was seized. According to the company that owned the ship, DM Shipping Co Ltd., communication with the vessel was lost shortly after it was boarded. The South Korean Defense Ministry responded by deploying an anti-piracy unit to the Strait of Hormuz with a 5,000 ton Destroyer, the Choi Yong. Statements made by Iranian officials suggest that the reasoning behind the seizure of the South Korean vessel was for “creating environmental and chemical pollution in the Persian Gulf.”
With the rising tensions between Iran and the United States, Iran also is raising its uranium enrichment. Uranium is a key component in the making of nuclear weapons. Iran stated that its goal is to raise uranium enrichment to 20% which is far above the maximum capacity the United Nations established in a pact made in 2015, which is 3.67% . Currently Iran’s uranium enrichment sits at 4.5%, while the amount of uranium needed to create a nuclear weapon is around 90%. Iranian Government officials say that Iran has zero intentions to use this uranium for nuclear weapons of any kind. The use of nuclear weapons in warfare is regarded as unlikely to happen, but according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it is plausible that Iran could develop nuclear weapons for war.
Iran is no stranger to sending threats towards the United States. One of their latest threats was heard over air traffic control frequencies. On Monday, January 4th of 2021, numerous air traffic controllers overheard an audio clip saying the following message: “We are flying a plane into the Capitol Wednesday [Jan. 6]. Solemani will be avenged.” Soon after air traffic controllers in New York received this message, they deemed it a threat and alerted authorities. After being alerted, the F.A.A and F.B.I. started to look into the matter and started an on-going investigation. Sources say that Iran was planning this possible attack against the U.S. Capitol, when congress would be in full session, counting the ballots from the recent presidential election.
Although the past presidential administration has made it clear that the United States will not be threatened, Iran continues to do so as seen with their most recent actions. Currently, there is no telling how newly-elected President Biden will react to possible future threats made by Iran, or any other entity. It is now up to the President and his administration to keep America and its people safe.