Robert Fantina made the remarks while answering the questions raised by the IRNA correspondent in New York.
General Soleimani, the former commander of the IRGC Qods Force, was assassinated with a number of his companions, including Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes, the acting commander of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), in a US drone attack in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on January 3, 2020.
Fantina, the author of Propaganda, Lies and False Flags: How the US Justifies Its Wars, told IRNA, “No government is empowered legally to kill a military or government leader of another country.”
Asked whether the United States achieved its goal after assassinating General Soleimani, the expert answered that the US government often orders actions that have the exact opposite impact of what was desired. The invasion of Iraq, for example, created far more ‘terrorists’ and far more danger for the United States than existed prior. Government officials don’t seem to realize that killing people does not endear the killers in the hearts of the survivors.
“The assassination of General Soleimani was definitely a violation of international law. No government is empowered legally to kill a military or government leader of another country. The US has disagreements with Iran, mainly because the US cannot tolerate a powerful, influential government in the Middle East other than its criminal partner, the Zionist entity. The murder of General Soleimani only increased hostility towards the US.”
Below are the other questions asked by IRNA and the answers provided by the US expert:
Q. From your point of view, what have been the consequences and effects of General Soleimani's assassination on the region and relations between Iran and the United States?
A. Relations between the United States and Iran were greatly strained due to the US breach of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a breach that was also in violation of international law since the JCPOA had the official support of the United Nations. By assassinating General Soleimani, the US only worsened those relations. But US officials are never interested in diplomacy; they seem to believe that violence is the way to achieve their geopolitical goals. Yet those goals were not met with the murder of General Soleimani. Iran is still a powerful nation.
Q. The United States always interferes in the affairs of countries that are not aligned with it, from terror to sanctions, coups, and waging wars, and John Bolton, an extremist American politician, has also pointed out the obvious interference of his country. Why does America continue to use these tactics despite the failure of its policies regarding the Islamic Republic of Iran?
A. As mentioned previously, US government officials believe in ‘might makes right’, meaning that the use of force is the preferred method of interacting with other nations on the global stage. The US has sanctioned Cuba for over sixty years, hoping for ‘regime change’; during the Obama administration, there was some recognition that this program was completely counterproductive, and some easing of the restrictions the US placed on Cuba occurred. But the Trump Administration rolled back those gains.
The reinstatement of sanctions following the US breach of the JCPOA was intended, according to Trump, to make things so difficult for Iran that its government leaders would request new negotiations. This, of course, didn’t occur; the people of Iran are well accustomed to living under illegal sanctions. President Joe Biden, who succeeded Trump as president, could have, and should have, reinstated the JCPOA immediately after he was inaugurated president, but he chose not to do so.
US officials always want to proclaim the US as the strongest military power in the world, and many of those officials received generous election and re-election campaign donations from major military contractors. So by increasing hostility towards Iran, they can justify their huge expenditures for weapons.
Q. Despite the slogan of a diplomatic approach towards Iran and the claim that its goal is not “regime change”, the Biden administration has openly supported the unrest and opponents of the Islamic Republic of Iran in recent events and has used international mechanisms against Tehran. What is the US trying to achieve through such interferences and hostile actions against the Islamic Republic of Iran?
A. US government officials occasionally proclaim their desire for diplomatic solutions to disputes with other nations, but always qualify such statements by saying that “all options remain on the table”, meaning that if those other nations don’t adhere to US demands, however unreasonable they may be, the US will bomb them. US officials have for years supported the brutal terrorist organization, MEK (sometimes referred to as MKO), which has as its goal the overthrow of the Iranian government.
Ultimately, the US wants to see the end of the current Iranian government, replaced by a puppet government that will do US bidding. This is what happened in 1953 when the US overthrew the democratically-elected government of Iran and installed the brutal Shah. His repressive regime lasted for decades until a people’s revolution overthrew it. The US is not interested in self-determination for any nation unless that nation chooses a form of government that will follow all US demands.
Q. How do you evaluate the role of the West and its allies, especially the United States and intelligence agencies such as the CIA and Mossad, in the recent unrest in Iran?
A. The CIA and Mossad are both known for their violent actions, violations of international law, and crimes against humanity. The unrest in Iran may not have been caused by those criminal organizations, but they have certainly seized this opportunity to make things worse for the people of Iran and their government. Iran has a very large population, and in any country that size, there will be people who want changes in government policies. They are entitled to peacefully demonstrate for those changes. But the violence that has erupted in certain areas from time to time is not consistent with Iranians seeking some changes. There can be little doubt that outside influences, mainly if not exclusively the CIA and Mossad, are behind this violence.
Q. Can you share your opinion about the United States' claim of support for the people and women of Iran and human rights, considering its dual approach towards countries including Saudi Arabia and turning a blind eye to their continuous human rights violations?
A. The US is very selective in demanding human rights; Saudi Arabia’s gross violations of the rights of women and dissidents are only one example. The US finances all of Israel’s war crimes and crimes against humanity and says nothing of the appalling and constant violations of the basic human rights of the people of Palestine. And even within its own borders, the US cannot provide basic human rights to women and people of color, as is evidenced by repressive laws concerning women, the over-policing of mainly Black communities, and the disproportionate number of Blacks and other people of color in US prisons. And yet, US politicians proudly proclaim that the US is a beacon of freedom and democracy for the rest of the world to emulate. This statement is as nonsensical as their similar statements about apartheid Israel being the only democracy in the Middle East.
Q. Since the beginning of Iran's internal events, the Biden administration has announced that it is focused on the unrest and not returning to the JCPOA. Regarding the Vienna negotiations, while refusing the US administration’s violation of the JCPOA and its requests during the negotiations, Washington blames Iran for the failure of the negotiations. Recently, US President Joe Biden while speaking among opponents of the Islamic Republic of Iran said that the JCPOA is dead, but he cannot “announce” it for many reasons, and immediately after the release of this video, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that diplomacy is the best way to deal with Iran. Do you think the West, especially the United States, is determined to finalize the negotiations, and why?
A. The US is bizarrely claiming that it is Iran that is not serious about negotiations. It seems that US politicians have forgotten that it was the US, not Iran, that violated the agreement. They have forgotten that Iran maintained its part of the agreement for a full year after the US violation of it, even though brutal sanctions had been reimposed by the United States. US officials do not seem to recognize that the Iran government has no reason to trust the word of the US president; they have seen that commitments the US made can be arbitrarily violated by the US.
The US would like to say, as Biden has privately stated, that the deal is dead; it will then point a finger at Iran and blame that country for the failure. Some leaders throughout the international community may follow his lead, but others will recognize the hypocrisy of that accusation.
Q. At the same time, the United States is trying to project Iran's role in the Ukraine war by claiming that Russia uses Iranian drones, while Iran has repeatedly denied such accusations and said that it has defense cooperation with Russia and that the drones sent to Moscow before the war in Ukraine, and Tehran’s policy towards this war is respect for the territorial integrity of Ukraine, avoiding weapon delivery to the conflicting parties, an end to the war and displacement of people. What do you think about such accusations made by the United States?
A. One of the new points that the US government has said regarding the JCPOA is that Iran needs to cease its ‘destabilizing’ actions throughout the Middle East. In truth, it is the US, not Iran, that is constantly causing and maintaining that destabilization, by supporting the Saudi war against Yemen, terrorist activity against the government of Syria, and Israeli atrocities against the Palestinians. The US sells billions of dollars of weaponry to Saudi Arabia and gives billions of dollars worth of weaponry to Israel. Yet the US does not want other nations to trade freely with each other. Iran’s trade agreements with Russia are not the concern of the US; Iran is able to trade and establish alliances – trade, military or anything else – with any nation it chooses. The government of Iran has made clear its opinion on the Russian war with Ukraine, but the US government wants to accuse it of involvement in any action that is opposed by the US.
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