US envoy: Successor to slain Iran general will face same fate if he kills Americans
Washington bars Iranians from entering country on trade and investment visas
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The US special representative for Iran said the successor to Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in a US drone strike, would suffer the same fate if he followed a similar path of killing Americans, Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported.
Washington blamed Soleimani for masterminding attacks by Iran-aligned militias against US forces in the region. US President Donald Trump ordered the January 3 drone strike in Iraq after a buildup of tension over Iran’s nuclear program.
Iran responded to the killing of Soleimani, who was charged with expanding Tehran’s influence across the Middle East by launching missile strikes on US targets in Iraq – even though no US soldiers were killed.
After Soleimani’s death, Tehran swiftly appointed Esmail Ghaani as the new head of the Quds Force, an elite unit in the Revolutionary Guards that handles actions abroad. The new commander pledged to pursue Soleimani’s course.
“If Ghaani follows the same path of killing Americans then he will meet the same fate,” Brian Hook told the Arabic-language daily Asharq al-Awsat. He said in the interview in Davos that US President Donald Trump had long made it clear “that any attack on Americans or American interests would be met with a decisive response.” Hook explained, “This isn’t a new threat. The president has always said that he will always respond decisively to protect American interests... I think the Iranian regime understands now that they cannot attack America and get away with it.”
After his appointment, Ghaani promised to “continue in this luminous path” taken by Soleimani and said the goal was to drive US forces out of the region, which has long been Iran’s stated policy.
Tensions between Washington and Tehran have steadily increased since Trump withdrew from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers in 2018 and imposed tough news sanctions that have hammered the Iranian economy.
Meanwhile, the United States has barred Iranians from entering the country on trade and investment visas from Thursday.
US Citizenship and Immigration Services attributed the change to the termination in October 2018 of a treaty of amity with Iran, which is the target of US sanctions over its nuclear and missile programs.
The E-1 and E-2 nomimmigrant visas allow citizens of other countries to be admitted into the United States to engage in international trade or to invest a large sum of capital.
Iranians are no longer eligible for such visas, the service said. Those already in the country with these visas must leave once their authorized stay expires, it said. It was not clear how many Iranians will be affected.
The little-known agreement was signed long before Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution that turned the two countries into archenemies.