Midterm Interview

Hello President Hassan Rouhani, I am Olivia Sweezy and today I have a few questions for you. 

Hello Olivia, I am President Hassan Rouhani of Iran. I am ready for any questions you would like to ask of me and my country. 

So a couple of weeks ago we heard of the killing of Qasem Soleimani. How was he killed? What leader position did he hold in the Iranian military and how do you think this is going to affect the future for the United States and Iran? 

Qasem Soleimani was an Iranian major general and a commander of Quds Force until his death. Quds Force is a division primarily responsible for extraterritorial military and clandestine operations. He was killed at Baghdad airport by a United States airstrike and your president Donald Trump approved of the killing. I can assure you, America will face consequences in the upcoming years for the killing of my commander Soleimani. 

Soleimani was commander of the Quds Force. Who else is in the Force and what is the purposes and practice of the Force.  How long has this Force been around for? 

The Quds Force is an Iran Islamic Revolutionary Guard specializing in warfare and military operations. There are about 10,000-20,000 members of the Force. The current commander of the Force is Brigadier General Esmail Ghanni and deputy commander Brigadier General Mohammed Hejazi. The Quds Force came about in 1980 during the Iraq-Iran war. Since then it has provided support and has expanded its operations to neighboring countries such as Afghanistan. The Force began targeting the U.S. and other Western bodies since 2010. 

Now President Rouhani, How did the conflict between Iran and American come about? How has this conflict progressed over the years and why is it such a serious matter? 

After the Iranian Revolution in 1979 The U.S. and Iran had a disagreement over Persia being one of the United States closest allies. This conflict then grew from 1979-1981 because of the Iran hostage crisis when fifty-two American citizens were held hostage for 444 days. When President Trump pulled from the nuclear deal with Iran in 2018 and made different plans, the relations between Iran and the United States have worsened leading to the Persian Gulf crisis and the killing of Soleimani.

I see you mentioned the Persian Gulf crisis, also known as the Iranian-American confrontation crisis in the Gulf. What was the purpose of this and how did it come about causing more tensions between the two countries. If there was a gain or purpose to this confrontation what was it and was it a success? 

The crisis in the Gulf began when political tensions between the countries grew due to the build up of the United States military when there was talk of Iran attacking American forces in the Gulf. in response to this, my country categorized American as a terrorist organization. In June of last year, we shot down a surveillance drone of America over the Persian Gulf which led to great tensions between us and the U.S. almost leading to armed confrontation. This crisis has led on ever since, and grew after the killing of American contractor by Iraq which led to the airstrike attack by the U.S. killing Souleimani. By this point, both countries are going back on retaliations from previous history and is setting the future for confrontations to arise. 

Thank you, President Rouhani for your time and the history of the United States with Iran. The interview was very informational.