"The Symbol of Ignorance"

Throngs of people chanting “Death to America” crowded the streets of Tehran on Monday as Iran mourned Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, whose funeral was held in the capital. The military commander was hailed as a martyr, and his successor swore revenge.

“God the almighty has promised to get his revenge, and God is the main avenger,” vowed Esmail Ghaani, the Iranian general who will take over the Quds Force, the foreign expeditionary arm of Iran’s elite paramilitary organization, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. “Certainly actions will be taken,” he added.

State-run news outlets reported that millions had gathered in Tehran, and images showed of a sea of mourners, many wearing black and waving the nation’s flag in an outpouring of grief.

General Suleimani was killed by the United States on Friday in Baghdad in a drone strike. American officials said the general had ordered assaults on Americans in Iraq and Syria and was planning a wave of imminent attacks.

His killing has set off fears of escalating retaliatory actions by Iran and the United States, and of a broader regional conflict. In the aftermath of the attack, Iran said it would no longer abide by a 2015 agreement to suspend uranium production.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, wept openly at the funeral while offering prayers over the general’s coffin. Ayatollah Khamenei had a close relationship with the general, who was widely considered to be the second most powerful man in Iran.

General Suleimani’s daughter, Zeinab Suleimani, said in a eulogy that the United States and Israel faced a “dark day.”

“You crazy Trump, the symbol of ignorance, the slave of Zionists, don’t think that the killing of my father will finish everything,” she said at the funeral.

"Successor to Slain Iranian General Vows Revenge: Live Updates" by The New York Times

David Sanger, the chief national security reporter for The New York Times, has declared Trump's "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran a total failure. Iran announced an end to all restrictions on it nuclear program, while holding open the door to a maintenance of the JCPOA if the Trump administration drops its sanctions. We know that is not going to happen.

Why? Because Trump strictly adheres to the wishes of hard-line Likudniks. Israel is the foreign power, along with the absolutist Gulf monarchies, Trump kowtows to, not Russia. The Israelis and the Saudis fear Iran, and they feared Qassim Suleimani. The plan all along has been to get the United States into a war with Iran. Now it appears that plan has been successfully implemented.

Barring a removal of office via impeachment, a removal that would require a sudden "Road to Damascus" conversion of one-to-two dozen Republican senators, the United States appears to be going to war with Iran. Even if Congress were to pass legislation requiring Trump to seek authorization for the use of military force against Iran, Trump would ignore it.

The mistake Trump has made is thinking that voters will forgive this provocation. They will not. Trump is out. "Endless wars" was Trump's principal populist, anti-establishment talking point. It's gone now, replaced by the usual Neocon Likudnik anti-Iranian perpetual warfare hooey, a product at least a decade beyond its "sell-by" date.

 I'm assuming that either Bernie or Biden can beat Trump now; Warren, too. Maybe even Buttigieg.