Soleimani, 'living martyr' who rose above Iran rifts

TEHRAN, Iran—The millions who turned out across Iran to mourn General Qasem Soleimani have testified to the apparent across-the-board popularity of a figure hailed as a "living martyr" for the Islamic republic. 

Rising above divisions in Iran, funeral processions for the Revolutionary Guard commander assassinated in a US drone strike last week in Baghdad drew massive crowds between Sunday and Tuesday in the cities of Ahvaz, Mashhad, Tehran, Qom and finally Kerman, his hometown.

"The last time I remember such a crowd was at Ayatollah (Ruhollah) Khomeini's funeral 30 years ago," prominent Iranian journalist Maziar Khosravi said of the turnout in the capital, referring to the founder of the Islamic republic.

The show of national unity has contrasted sharply with the downbeat mood in the country since nationwide demonstrations that were violently put down by security forces in November.

Soleimani, killed at the age of 62, had been at the center of power-broking in the region for 2 decades as chief of the elite external operations Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards.


Powerful and always presentable, yet discreet, he was also a popular figure during his lifetime, not just in death.

A survey published in 2018 by IranPoll and the University of Maryland—one of the few considered reliable by analysts—found Soleimani had a popularity rating of 83 percent, ahead of President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

ROOTS OF POPULARITY

Declared a "living martyr" by Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei while still alive, Soleimani was widely regarded as a hero for his role in defeating the Islamic State jihadist group in both Iraq and Syria.

In the eyes of many Iranians, his military and strategic prowess were instrumental in warding off the multi-ethnic disintegration of neighboring countries such as Afghanistan as well as Syria and Iraq.

In a rare tribute to his status, a mosque in Qom, the spiritual capital of Shiite Iran, hoisted the red flag symbolizing the blood of martyrs that is traditionally reserved for the Islamic holy month of Muharram.

Khosravi, the journalist, noted that huge crowds from different sectors of society had also turned out to mourn and pay tribute to Soleimani in Ahvaz, capital of the down-at-heel province of Khuzestan and a hotspot in last year's protests.

Hassan Razavi, a lawyer and University of Tehran teacher, explained the roots of the general's popularity at home.

"What people liked about him is that while some other military commanders after the Iraq-Iran war shifted their life toward politics and economy, he continued his role in the military," said Razavi.

He was seen to have played a "significant role in pushing (late Iraqi dictator) Saddam Hussein's army out of the country" during the devastating war that raged between the 2 neighbors from 1980 to 1988.

"People witnessed that he never took financial advantage of his position for his personal life," the lawyer said.

And, "he was so courageous that instead of leading the war out of war rooms far from the battlefield, he was in the middle of the battlefield on the frontline with his soldiers," Razavi said.

Whereas previously he kept out of the limelight, Soleimani had in recent years become an unlikely celebrity in Iran—replete with a huge following on Instagram.

His profile shot up as the public face of Iran's intervention in the Syrian conflict from 2013, appearing in battlefield photos, documentaries—and even being featured in a music video and animated film.

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Asian shares slump; gold, oil soar after Iran strike on US forces

SHANGHAI -- Asian shares and US treasury yields plunged on Wednesday, while gold and oil shot higher after Iran fired rockets at an Iraqi airbase that hosts US military forces, stoking fears of further sharp escalations in a developing conflict.

Iran's missile attacks on the Ain Al-Asad air base and another in Erbil, Iraq, early Wednesday came hours after the funeral of an Iranian commander whose killing in a US drone strike has raised fears of a wider war in the Middle East.

In morning trade, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan shed 0.5 percent. Japan's Nikkei dropped 2.5 percent and Australian shares fell 1 percent.

US crude soared 4.42 percent to $65.47 a barrel.

"We've moved on from how Iran will respond to now anticipating the US 52-pronged response as the US military forces in the region are in a heightened state of alert while likely preparing for war," said Stephen Innes, strategist at AxiTrader. "It's not going to be pretty today"

The sharp sell-off in risk assets was accompanied by steep drops in US Treasury yields as investors flocked to safety. Benchmark 10-year Treasury notes yielded 1.7188 percent, down more than 10 basis points from a US close of 1.825 percent on Tuesday.

The two-year yield dropped to 1.4581 percent compared with a US close of 1.546 percent.

The dollar also plunged against the yen, with the Japanese currency touching its strongest point against the greenback since October. The US currency was last down 0.69 percent against the yen at 107.67.

The euro gained 0.1 percent on the day to $1.1161.

The flight to safety and a falling dollar supported gold, which rocked 1.91 percent higher on the spot market to $1,603.93 per ounce.

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'Never threaten Iran,' Iran president tells Trump

TEHRAN—Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Monday warned his American counterpart Donald Trump to "never threaten the Iranian nation," after he issued a US strike list of 52 targets in the Islamic republic.

"Those who refer to the number 52 should also remember the number 290. #IR655 Never threaten the Iranian nation," he tweeted, referring to 290 lives lost in July 1988 when a US warship shot down passenger plane Iran Air 655 in the Gulf.

Trump warned Saturday that Washington had lined up 52 targets in Iran if it attacked American personnel or assets in retaliation for a US drone strike in Baghdad that killed Iran's top commander Qasem Soleimani.

He said 52 represented the number of Americans held hostage at the US embassy in Tehran for more than a year starting in late 1979.

Trump said some of these sites are "at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD."

Later, the president tweeted again, this time warning Iran that the US will hit Iran "harder than they have ever been hit before!"

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Iraq parliament demands US troop ouster after Soleimani killing

BAGHDAD - Pressure against the US in Iraq ramped up Sunday, as rockets hit near the American embassy and parliament demanded the ouster of thousands of US troops over the killing of a top Iranian general.

Ties have deteriorated after an American precision drone strike Friday on the Baghdad international airport that killed Iran's Major General Qasem Soleimani and top Iraqi military figure Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

A pair of rockets hit near the US embassy in Iraq's high-security Green Zone for the second night in a row on Sunday just hours after Iraq's foreign ministry summoned the American ambassador over the strike.

Earlier, caretaker prime minister Adel Abdel Mahdi attended an extraordinary parliamentary session during which he slammed the US strike as a "political assassination". 

He joined 168 lawmakers -- just enough for quorum in Iraq's 329-seat parliament -- to discuss the ouster of US troops.

Some 5,200 US soldiers are stationed across Iraqi bases to support local troops preventing a resurgence of the Islamic State jihadist group.

They are deployed as part of the broader international coalition, invited by the Iraqi government in 2014 to help fight IS.

"The parliament has voted to commit the Iraqi government to cancel its request to the international coalition for help to fight IS," speaker Mohammed Halbusi announced. 

The cabinet would have to approve any decision but the premier indicated support for an ouster in his speech.

"We face two main choices," he told MPs: either immediately voting for foreign troops to leave or setting limits and a timeframe for withdrawal through a parliamentary process. 

US-LED COALITION 'PAUSES' OPS

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reacted to the parliament's move by saying: "We'll have to take a look at what we do when the Iraqi leadership and government makes a decision".

Britain, a key member of the US-led coalition against jihadists, urged Iraq to allow soldiers to stay in the country, saying their work was "vital".

Admiral Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council secretary, said US troop presence in Iraq after the Iraqi parliamentary decision would be considered an "occupation".

Hardline parliamentarians with ties to Iraq's Hashed al-Shaabi, a military force close to Iran, had demanded the immediate expulsion of all foreign troops.

No Kurdish and most Sunni MPs boycotted the session as they were more supportive of an American military presence, seen as a counterweight to Iran. 

Tom Warrick, a former US official and current fellow at the Atlantic Council, said Soleimani and pro-Iran factions within the Hashed had long sought the US's ouster.

"If US forces do end up withdrawing, it could grant Soleimani a post-humous victory," Warrick told AFP. 

As the session got under way, the US-led coalition announced it was suspending its Iraq operations due to deadly rocket attacks on their bases. 

"This has limited our capacity to conduct training with partners and to support their operations against Daesh (IS) and we have therefore paused these activities, subject to continuous review," it said. 

Late Saturday, two missiles slammed into the Green Zone and another two rockets hit an airbase north of the capital housing American troops.

There had been fears of a volleys of rockets following a warning from a hardline Hashed faction for Iraqis to move away from US forces by Sunday afternoon. 

Increased tensions had already prompted NATO to suspend training activities in Iraq and a US defense official told AFP American-led coalition forces would "limit" operations.

'BLATANT VIOLATION'

Iraq's foreign ministry said it summoned US ambassador Matthew Tueller and submitted complaints to the United Nations Security Council over the strikes.

"They were a blatant violation of Iraqi sovereignty," the ministry said in a statement, and "contradict the agreed-upon missions of the international coalition."

The US strike on Baghdad international airport early Friday killed five Iranian Revolutionary Guards and five members of Iraq's Hashed.

After a procession that made its way across various Iraqi cities on Saturday, the remains of the Iranians, plus those of Muhandis and another Hashed member, were flown to Iran where mourners packed the streets to pay tribute to them.

DNA testing was required to separate the Iraqis' remains so they could be properly buried, the Hashed said.

As head of the Quds Force, the Guards' foreign operations arm, Soleimani oversaw Iran's wide-ranging interventions in regional power struggles.

In Iraq, protesters taking to the streets since October had blamed him for propping up a government they see as corrupt and inept.

Demonstrations still rocked the capital and south on Sunday, with many protesting against Iran and the United States.

US President Donald Trump claimed Soleimani was planning an "imminent" attack on US personnel in the region and threatened Iran -- which has promised "severe revenge" -- with more strikes.

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Oil prices surge after US strike kills Iranian general

HONG KONG - Oil prices soared more than four percent Friday and equities reversed early gains following news that the US had killed a top Iranian general, fanning fresh fears of a conflict in the crude-rich region.

The head of Iran's Quds Force, Qasem Soleimani, was hit in an attack on Baghdad's international airport early Friday, according to Hased, a powerful Iraqi paramilitary force linked to Tehran.

Later, Donald Trump tweeted a picture of the American flag, and the Pentagon said he had ordered Soleimani's killing.

Brent surged 4.4 percent to $69.16 and WTI jumped 4.3 percent to $63.84 as investors grow increasingly worried about a possible flare-up in the tinderbox Middle East.

"This is more than just bloodying Iran's nose," said AxiTrader's Stephen Innes. "This is an aggressive show of force and an outright provocation that could trigger another Middle East war."

The killing of Soleimani is a dramatic escalation of tensions between the US and Iran and comes after a pro-Iran mob this week laid siege to the US embassy in Iraq following deadly American air strikes on the hardline Hashed faction.

The attack on the embassy highlighted new strains in the US-Iraqi relationship, which officials from both countries have described to AFP as the "coldest" in years.

It also comes as tensions between the US and North Korea worsen, with Kim Jong Un declaring a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests had ended, with talks with the US going nowhere.

"We are waking up to a less safe world than it was only hours ago, especially if we combine this with simmering tension in the Korean peninsula," Innes added.

The drama sent investors rushing for the hills and safe-haven units rallied with the yen up 0.7 percent against the dollar and gold climbing more than one percent.

High-risk currencies retreated against the greenback, with South Korea's won down 0.6 percent, Australia's dollar down 0.4 percent and the South African rand down more than one percent.

Equities sank into the red, having been enjoying the second day of the year rallying on trade optimism.

Hong Kong fell 0.2 percent, while Shanghai shed 0.1 percent. Singapore retreated 0.2 percent, Seoul lost 0.1 percent and Taipei eased 0.3 percent. However, Sydney, Wellington, and Manila held in positive territory.

Markets had all been well up before news of the strike, thanks to ongoing optimism fuelled by the China-US trade agreement, looser central bank monetary policies and easing Brexit worries.

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Iraqis pour into streets for biggest protest day since Saddam Hussein

BAGHDAD - Thousands of Iraqis thronged central Baghdad on Friday demanding the root-and-branch downfall of the political elite, in what was expected to become the biggest day of mass anti-government demonstrations since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Protests in which 250 people have died over the past month have accelerated dramatically in recent days, drawing huge crowds from across Iraq's sectarian and ethnic divides to reject the political parties in power since 2003.

Thousands have been camped out in Baghdad's central Tahrir Square, with many thousands more joining them by day. Friday, the Muslim day of prayer, was expected to draw the biggest crowds yet, with many taking to the streets after worship.

More than 50 people were wounded overnight and early Friday morning, police and hospital sources said. By late morning hundreds were marching to the square from side streets, condemning elites they see as deeply corrupt, beholden to foreign powers and responsible for daily privations.

In recent days protests have been comparatively peaceful by day, joined by elderly people and young families, becoming more violent after dark as police use tear gas and live ammunition to battle self-proclaimed "revolutionary" youths in the street.

Amnesty International said on Thursday security forces were using "previously unseen" tear gas canisters modeled on military grenades that are 10 times as heavy as standard ones.

In Baghdad, protesters had set up checkpoints in the streets leading into and surrounding Tahrir Square, redirecting traffic.

New arrivals joined and assisted those who had camped overnight. A group of young people was sweeping the streets in to "make things comfortable" for fellow protesters.

Mohammed Najm, an engineering graduate with no job, said the square had become a model for the country he and his comrades hope to build: "We are cleaning streets, others bring us water, they bring us electricity, they wired it up.

"A mini-state. Health for free, tuk-tuks transporting for free," he said. "The state has been around for 16 years and what it failed to do we did in seven days in Tahrir. If they can't do it, leave."

Many were singing about the sit in. Helmets and gas masks were now a common sight. A group of middle-aged women sat making falafel sandwiches.

"We are making food for the protesters. They are our sons and brothers," said Umm Idrees, mother to three university graduates who have all failed to find jobs. "We are here until the regime falls, every day."

'NOT ENOUGH'

In his weekly sermon, top Shi'ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani warned of "civil conflict, chaos and destruction" if the security forces or paramilitary groups crack down on the protests. And he gave an apparent nod to protesters who say the government is being manipulated from abroad, above all by Iran.

"No one person or group or side with an agenda, or any regional or international party, can infringe upon the will of Iraqis or force an opinion upon them," Sistani's representative said during a sermon in the holy city of Kerbala.

Despite OPEC member Iraq's vast oil wealth, many Iraqis live in poverty or have limited access to clean water, electricity, basic health care and education. The protests are driven by young people who above all want jobs.

The government of Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, in office for a year, has failed to find a response to the protests. A crackdown that saw police fire into crowds from rooftops has only inflamed the anger of the crowds.

Many see the political class as subservient to one or another of Baghdad's main allies, the United States and Iran, who use Iraq as a proxy for a struggle for regional influence.

"The leadership is controlled by Iran," said barber Amir, 26. "When we make demands we shouldn't even talk to the government, we should talk to Iran. We don't have a government."

Reuters reported this week that a powerful Iran-backed faction had considered abandoning Abdul Mahdi, but decided to keep him in office after a secret meeting attended by a general from Iran's Revolutionary Guards.

An Iranian security official confirmed General Qassem Soleimani had attended Wednesday's meeting, saying he was there to "give advice."

President Barham Salih said on Thursday that Abdul Mahdi was willing to resign if parliament's main blocs could agree on a replacement.

Protesters say that wouldn't be enough; they want to undo the entire post-Saddam political system, which distributes power among sectarian parties, giving them little incentive to reform.

"We don't want to oust just Adel Abdul Mahdi, we want all the corrupt ones. So what if he resigns? What will happen? They will get someone worse," said Amir. "It is not enough. What about the rest of them? We don't want the parties."

There were protests in other provinces, with the unrest having spread across much of the southern Shi'ite heartland.

Some protesters in oil-rich Basra tried to block the road leading to Majnoon oilfield and pitched a tent on Friday in support of the Baghdad protests but oil sources said operations were not interrupted.

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8 killed, 15 wounded in new clashes in Iraq

BAGHDAD - At least 8 people were killed and 25 wounded in new clashes between protesters and police in eastern Baghdad on Sunday, police and medical sources said.

The clashes were in Sadr city, a sprawling residential district of the Iraqi capital, and added to a death toll of more than 100 people killed in less than a week of protests over corruption and unemployment.

Police, backed by the army, used live rounds and tear gas to disperse the crowds at two separate locations in Sadr City, police said.

The protests pose the biggest security and political challenge for Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi's government since it took power a year ago, and have revived fears of a new spiral of violence that could suck in influential militia groups.

Two years after oil-producing Iraq declared the defeat of Islamic State, security has improved but corruption is rampant, wrecked infrastructure has not been rebuilt and jobs are scarce. 

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Islamic State kills 24 with Baghdad car bomb, attack police stations in Samarra

BAGHDAD/TIKRIT, Iraq - An Islamic State car bomb killed 24 people in Baghdad's Sadr City district on Monday and the militants also attacked two police stations in the city of Samarra as Iraqi forces fought to oust the group from Mosul, its last major stronghold in Iraq.

At least four other attacks across Baghdad, some also claimed by Islamic State, killed nine more people earlier in the day, bringing the total death toll from bombings in the capital over the past three days to more than 60.

In the attacks in Samarra, about 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, security sources said multiple gunmen wearing suicide vests took over two police stations, killing at least seven policemen.

The mayor of Samarra, Mahmoud Khalaf, said security forces had regained control, killing at least six assailants, but declined to comment on the number of casualties on the government side.

The pro-Islamic State news agency Amaq said the militants had executed some policemen.

The upsurge in violence comes as U.S-backed Iraqi forces try to drive Islamic State from the northern city of Mosul, where the militants are putting up fierce resistance.

Islamic State has lost most of the territory it seized in a blitz across northern and western Iraq in 2014 and ceding Mosul would probably spell the end of its self-styled caliphate. But it would still be capable of waging a guerrilla-style insurgency in Iraq and plotting or inspiring attacks on the West.

"The terrorists will attempt to attack civilians in order to make up for their losses, but we assure the Iraqi people and the world that we are able to end terrorism and shorten its life," Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said after talks with visiting French President Francois Hollande.

REVENGE

Islamic State said Monday's attacks in Baghdad were revenge for "the repeated targeting of health institutions in Nineveh province" by the U.S.-led coalition backing Iraqi forces.

That was an apparent reference to two air strikes last month on hospitals in eastern Mosul, one where Iraqi forces were under attack and another which the U.S. military said had targeted militants sitting in a van. At least one of the strikes may have caused civilian casualties.

After Monday's attacks U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirkby reaffirmed Washington's commitment to support Iraq.

"These vicious acts of mass murder are a sobering reminder of the need to continue coalition operations against Daesh and to eliminate the threat this terrorist group poses," he said, using the Arabic name for the group.

Monday's blast in Sadr City hit a busy square where day laborers typically gather. Islamic State said in an online statement it had targeted Shi'ite Muslims, whom it considers apostates. Sixty-seven people were wounded in the blast.

Nine of the victims were women in a passing minibus, whose charred bodies were visible inside the burnt-out remains of the vehicle. Blood stained the ground nearby.

A parked car bomb targeting a Sunni religious figure near a mosque in western Baghdad killed five people, and another blast close to a hospital in the center killed one civilian and wounded nine, police and medical sources said.

In the southeastern Zaafraniya district, two more people were killed and seven wounded when a car bomb exploded. A bomb affixed to a vehicle in the eastern area of Baladiyat killed one person and wounded four.

A British soldier serving in the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State was killed, the defense ministry in London said in a statement, adding that it was "not as a result of enemy activity". The statement gave no details of the incident.

MOSUL

Since the drive to recapture Mosul began on Oct. 17, elite forces have retaken a quarter of the city in the biggest ground operation in Iraq since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. Abadi has said the group will be driven out of the country by April.

Clashes continued in and around Mosul on Monday. The counter-terrorism service (CTS) blew up several Islamic State car bombs before they reached their targets, and linked up with the Rapid Response forces, an elite Interior Ministry unit, said spokesman Sabah al-Numani.

CTS was also clearing North Karama district of remaining militants, the fourth area the unit has retaken in Mosul during the past week, he said.

Islamic State targeted military positions away from the main battlefield, killing at least 16 pro-government fighters and cutting a strategic road linking Mosul to Baghdad, although authorities later said they had regained control of it.

(Additional reproting by Ahmed Rasheed and Saif Hameed in Baghdad, Isabel Coles in Erbil and Mostafa Hashem in Cairo; Writing by Stephen Kalin; Editing by Mark Trevelyan and Gareth Jones)

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