‘Treacherous criminal aggression’: How the world reacted to Qassim Soleimani's assassination

After Qassim Soleimani was killed on Friday, the world reacted with a mixture of shock, applause and incredulity.

At home, the New York Times called the attack a “major escalation” that is a “staggering blow to Tehran”. However, it cautioned that “US officials have no doubt that the Iranians will respond – but they do not know how quickly or with what fury”.

The Wall Street Journal said it was a “dangerous new chapter”. The Los Angeles Times argues that the killing “begins a more volatile chapter in [Donald Trump’s] uneven foreign policy”.

The Washington Post feared the killing would unleash a “cycle of retaliation” and in a leader said that the president’s actions could have huge implications for the impeachment proceedings, “putting Democrats on the defensive in their bid to remove Trump”.

The Washington Examiner said that the attack was “a great moment for the United States that should be celebrated by all Americans”.

The New York Post put a photograph of Soleimani on the front page with the headline “Blown Away”.

How the world’s media reacted

Der Speigel’s online English version slammed Mr Trump’s “instinctual foreign policy devoid of experts”. The German newspaper said the killing could make out-and-out war with Iran “inevitable”.

Elsewhere in Germany, Die Welt congratulated the US: “One thing is clear: The world is a better place without Qassim Soleimani. Iran is ultimately the world’s greatest sponsor of terrorism, and Soleimani was Iran’s top terrorist.” Süddeutsche Zeitung warned that the fallout from his death will “sweep across Iraq and from Yemen to Syria in places that Soleimani placed his marionettes. It is not only an experience unique to the US in the region: A power vacuum in the Middle East will always be filled with violence.”

Frankfurter Allgemeine recalled the 1979 US embassy siege in Tehran and said “these images awaken an American trauma that has lost little of its potency.” Meanwhile, Zeit criticized Mr Trump’s broken campaign promise in which he pledged to withdraw the US from “endless war”. “Trump will remain the reason behind a campaign launched against a land of 80 million people,” the newspaper said. “In comparison, the Iraq War started by George W Bush will seem like a walk in the park.”

Le Figaro, the French newspaper, worries that a war-weary Iraq “could be the scene of the first Iranian reprisals” and reports that the Iraqi parliament is considering a bill to expel all US troops from the country.

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El Pais, the Spanish newspaper, said the world was “on alert” after Soleimani’s death.

Russia’s Moscow Times focused on the reaction to the killing and possible escalation with the headline: “Russian Senator Calls US Killing of Top Iranian General ‘Worst Case Scenario’, Expects New US-Iran Clashes”.

How Iranian media reacted

All of Iran’s Saturday newspapers dedicated their front page to Soleimani. Hamshahri, a leading newspaper, lead with the headline “The Glory of the General”. Keyhan, a conservative newspaper, said that revenge would be swift and that Soleimani’s “blessed spirit” would be “embraced by the martyrs”.

Donya-e Eqtesad said that “the great commander of Islam has left for the heavens”.

Tehran Times, an English-language newspaper, said that Mr Trump “may have given Iran an unintended assist”. The attack, it said, “just added gross insult to gross injury, and may have created a long-delayed tipping point.” The paper’s editor said that Soleimani represented a “culture” and “a culture cannot be assassinated”.

How the world’s governments reacted

America’s allies, Britain, Germany and Canada, said that Iran bore some responsibility for the strike.

Germany said the attack was “a reaction to a whole series of military provocations.”

Dominic Raab, the British foreign secretary, insisted that the UK had “always recognised the aggressive threat” posed by Soleimani’s Quds but said: “Further conflict is in none of our interests.”

Francois-Philippe Champagne, Canada’s foreign minister, said Soleimani’s “aggressive actions” had “a destabilising effect in the region and beyond”.

In France, Amelie de Montchalin, the deputy foreign minister, warned against further action. “We are waking up in a more dangerous world,” she said.

Italy also warned that increased tensions “risk being fertile terrain for terrorism and violent extremism.” But Matteo Salvini, the opposition leader, praised Mr Trump for eliminating “one of the most dangerous and pitiless men in the world, an Islamic terrorist, an enemy of the West, of Israel, of rights and of freedoms.”

Mr Trump also won the support of Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, “for acting swiftly, forcefully and decisively.”

Jair Bolsonaro, the president of Brazil, would not be drawn on whether he agreed with the killing but he noted that it would force oil prices to rise and he called for calm. “I hope the moods calm down and that Iran modifies its way of conducting politics, as other Arab countries have done in the past.”

In the United Arab Emirates, Anwar Gargash, the foreign minister, called in a tweet for rational engagement and a “calm approach, free of emotion.” 

Qatar, which shares a large underwater gas field with Iran, also called for restraint in a statement.

Saudi Arabia, Iran’s top regional rival, added its own voice of caution against “all acts that may lead to aggravating the situation with unbearable consequences.”

Ashraf Ghani, the president of Afghanistan, said his country does not want to be drawn into any confrontation between Washington and Tehran.

‘Treacherous criminal aggression’: How America’s enemies reacted

Russia’s foreign minister was highly critical of the US. Sergei Lavrov said the killing “grossly violates international law and should be condemned.”

He called Mike Pompeo, the US defence secretary, on Friday to tell him that the US move was “fraught with severe consequences for the peace of stability in the region and doesn’t help resolve complicated problems in the Middle East,” according to a ministry statement. Lavrov also urged Washington to “stop using unlawful methods of force”.

Earlier, Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for Russia’s foreign ministry, suggested that Trump ordered it with one eye on his re-election campaign.

“The US military were acting on orders of US politicians,” Ms Zakharova said. “Everyone should remember and understand that US politicians have their interests, considering that this year is an election year.”

Syria’s foreign ministry strongly condemned what it called “treacherous American criminal aggression.” It said the attack reaffirmed US blame for the instability in Iraq as part of its policy to “create tensions and fuel conflicts in the region.”

Abdul-Malek al-Houthi, the leader of Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who are Shiite and closely allied with Iran, offered his condolences to the Iranian people. He said that Soleimani’s “pure” blood had not been shed in vain.