Israel has convinced the United States that IRGC Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani is an “immediate threat” to American soldiers, said Tamir Himan, former head of the National Security Council, in an interview with the British Jewish newspaper Jewish News.
Three years ago, a US airstrike killed IRGC Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani after he landed in Iraq, leading to major tensions between Tehran and Washington. Iran still threatens to take revenge for his assassination, calling it a “terrorist attack on an Iranian official”.
Hyman has previously said that Israel provided the US with intelligence on Soleimani, but his phrasing of “imminent threat” is the same as what then-US President Trump used when he claimed responsibility for the attack, suggesting the exact piece of Israeli intelligence that led to the decision to kill one of the commanders The seniors of the Revolutionary Guards.
“Soleimani planned attacks on American diplomats and military personnel, but we caught him in the act and finished with him,” Trump told reporters at the time. After Soleimani’s militias helped defeat the Islamic State (ISIS), the US “stood in his way because he wanted to rule the Middle East. So his focus changed from the Islamic State to the US presence in the region,” Hyman said.
Speculation regarding Israel’s alleged role in the assassination spread quickly, due to Soleimani’s desire to supply weapons to Israel’s enemies in Lebanon, Gaza and Syria. “Israel convinced the US of Soleimani’s evil activity against Americans. The US focused mainly on fighting terrorism, not on Iran. We provided the intelligence and shared analysis and over a long period of time they were ultimately convinced that Soleimani was an immediate threat to American life and its strategic position in the Middle East,” Hyman said.
He also said: “The commander in the Revolutionary Guards had enormous amounts of leadership,” according to Hyman: “He could stand on a hill in Syria and indicate to the militias how to conduct the strategy he planned and approved with the supreme leader. A few hours before.”
“In 2016, he detailed a big master plan on how to ensure that Syria becomes a second Lebanon. There will be Hezbollah 2.0, the transfer of Shiites to Syria, and that he will control the Syrian government. He had similar plans for Iraq and Yemen,” he added. The former head of the National Assembly claimed that the assassination of Soleimani made the Middle East more stable: “When he disappeared, you still had “builders” on the ground but there was no vision.”
As for the military attack on Iran’s nuclear program, Hayman warned that a unilateral military attack by Israel could lead to a regional war, and therefore it is crucial to align with the US. “A regional war would be the worst-case scenario, but it is still possible. You don’t bet on that without deep support from the superpower.”