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Iran's second most powerful man dies 4:03
Editor's Note: Peter Bergen is a national security analyst at CNN, vice president of New America and a professor of practice at Arizona State University. His new book is entitled "Trump and his generals: the cost of chaos." The opinions expressed in this comment are yours.
(CNN) - The importance of Thursday's US attack on Qasem Soleimani cannot be overstated because he led Iran's military operations throughout the Middle East.
Iraqi state television reported Thursday that Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), was killed by rockets that hit his vehicle near Baghdad International Airport. The Pentagon confirmed that it was an American attack ordered by President Donald Trump that killed Soleimani.
- Who was Qasem Soleimani, the Iranian commander killed in a US attack. with a drone?
- Watch : Possible scenarios after the death of Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani in US attack
This is how General Joseph Votel, the then commander of the United States Central Command, who oversaw US military operations in the Middle East, explained Soleimani's role in 2018: “Wherever you see Iranian activity, you will see Qasem Soleimani, either in Syria, or in Iraq, or in Yemen, he is there and it is the Quds Force, the leading organization, which I think is the main threat while we look at this and that they are the main ones that are fueling this activity destabilizing. ”
Over the past decade, Iran has carried out power wars throughout the Middle East in Iraq, Syria and Yemen and also controls much of Lebanon through its power force there, Hezbollah. Soleimani was in charge of all these operations.
Soleimani also oversaw operations against the US military in Iraq by Shiite militias in which hundreds of US military were killed after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. While he was eager to end the American wars in the Middle East, the President Trump proved willing to respond militarily when American lives were at risk. Trump authorized five airstrikes on Sunday against targets in Iraq and Syria that were associated with an Iran-backed militia that the United States blamed for a recent attack on a US military base in Iraq that resulted in the death of an American contractor and in that several US military were injured.
The question now is: How will the Iranians react? In recent months they have carried out attacks that seemed designed to harass the United States and its allies, but not to provoke a war without quarter.
- Minute by minute: the latest on the US attack against Qasem Soleimani
- Look: Trump says Soleimani perpetrated actions in the world to destabilize the Middle East
In June, the Iranians shot down a US surveillance drone. A drone. At first, military action seemed likely, but Trump withdrew air strikes against Iranian targets saying it was not a "proportional" response to the drone that was shot down.
Three months later, a barrage of missiles and drones attacked two of the world's most important oil facilities in Saudi Arabia.
President Trump then tweeted that the United States was "locked and loaded depending on the verification" of who was behind the attacks. However, when the US government credibly blamed Iran for the attacks, it turned out that Trump did not want to be involved in another war in the Middle East and did not authorize a military operation in response to an attack against a close ally.
But just as he did in October when he authorized a risky operation in Syria to capture or kill ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Trump approved the attack to kill Soleimani, who has the blood of many Americans in his hands.
Thursday's attack on Soleimani suggests that President Trump is increasingly confident in his use of US military power.
Qasem Soleimani