No Difference between Biden, Trump, Says Daughter of Martyr Soleimani
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The takeover of the White House by President-elect Joe Biden and the departure of Donald Trump is unlikely to bring change in US policy towards Tehran, said the daughter of Iran’s top anti-terror commander, Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, who was martyred in January.
“There’s no difference between Biden and Trump, they are the same guy. They are following the same policy, there’s no difference between them. Trump ordered the killing of my father, but Biden supported that, so there’s no difference,” Zeinab Soleimani told RT in an interview to be aired on Wednesday.
Still, Biden’s background leaves a lot of room for doubt, according to her, who said it was Barack Obama’s administration that facilitated the creation of the Daesh terrorist group and sent the whole Middle East into turmoil.
Moreover, US policy towards Iran has remained pretty much the same for decades already, she argued, and the change of the figurehead in the White House does not really matter.
“The problem we have with America is their policy, this will not change. They are the same people, with the same mind, the same way. And each one is worse than the other one,” Zeinab further said.
General Soleimani was the former commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC). He was assassinated by a US strike on January 3, when he was on an official visit to the Iraqi capital Baghdad. Hitting his convoy, the barbaric assault also led to the martyrdom of many others, including Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) or Hashd al-Sha’abi anti-terror force.
Trump’s decision to order the assassination of General Soleimani stemmed from the fact that her father jeopardized US plans in the region, invoking fury in Washington, Zeinab said.
“My father did his job so well and made them so angry. You are seeing every plan they are making in the Middle East is destroyed. Everywhere they are trying to enter and hurt Iran they fail. Of course, for them my father is a big monster, but my father is a savior”.
The assassination of General Soleimani, however, did not constitute a victory for the US, but actually backfired, his daughter said. It invoked more anger and hatred towards Washington in Iran, as well as in other countries of the region. The killing has made more people want to follow in General Soleimani’s steps and fight the US, she warned.
“After killing my father, America thought that everything will be stopped because they killed General Soleimani, the power of the Middle East. But they are so wrong,” Zeinab said. “They are so wrong in thinking this will be the end of General Soleimani, this is the beginning.”
Zeinab Soleimani also touched upon one of the most recent hostile acts against Iran – the killing of the country’s leading nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who was assassinated near Tehran late in November. Those behind the murder are certainly “not human”, given how the scientist was slain in cold blood for merely working for his country, she said.
“They’ve killed him so easily in his own country in front of… his wife,” she said. “How dare they come to our country and kill people so easily in the street?”
Fakhrizadeh, a senior nuclear and defense scientist, was assassinated in a small city east of Tehran on November 27.
In a message after the incident, Leader of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei called on all relevant administrators to “investigate this crime and firmly prosecute its perpetrators and its commanders” and “to continue the martyr’s scientific and technological efforts in all the sectors where he was active.”