Iran’s Knucklehead Assassination Strategy
Three recent incidents suggest that Iran is ready for another round with the United States, this time with new, more amateurish tactics.
On January 3, 2020, the United States killed Qassem Soleimani with a drone strike just outside Baghdad International Airport. In an instant, the most powerful Iranian soldier of his generation was reduced, with his carpool companions, to smoldering bits of flesh surrounded by mangled SUV parts. The operation was not quite over. The message sent via missile was followed, a former U.S. intelligence official told me, by a verbal message, like a love note attached to a box of chocolates. The official, who worked on the Soleimani portfolio and requested anonymity to speak freely, did not see the message but says it was calculated to menace, reassure, and avoid uncontrolled escalation. He summarized it:
