Ending the Vicious Cycle
The author is a research fellow at the Charhar Institute and an associate professor at the Institute of Middle East Studies, Northwest University of China
A U.S. airstrike in Iraq that killed General Qassem Soleimani, head of Iran’s elite Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has led to increasing tensions in the Middle East. His death came amid recent escalating antagonism between Iran and the U.S. in Iraq, which has become a microcosm of the intensified rivalry between Washington and Tehran.
On January 8, Iran directly retaliated against the U.S. by launching missiles at two military bases in
