Former US ambassador warns Iran will get "revenge" for Solemaini killing

4 January 2020, 09:40

The former British Ambassador to the US said it is "pretty certain" that Iran will exact revenge - but how they will do so is not yet known.

Sir Christopher Meyer said on Trump's decision to assassinate Qassem Soleimani: "He pulled a lot of troops out of Syria but apparently 48 hours later put most of them back again.

"So it's quite hard to find a coherent strategy in his actions around the world, particularly in the Middle East. So yes, it did come as a surprise."

He explained that "none of us have any idea what the Iranians will do to exact revenge but I think it can be pretty certain that they will do so because the regime has said it would do it and there will be a lot of people in the room demanding it".

Meyer said: "The world is a better place for Solemaini's disappearance but, having said that, there may be somebody far worse who is coming in and will come along and replace him. We just don't know at the moment."

He later said: "In the Middle East, we have similar interests but we don't have identical interests. So it's right that this will be a bit of a distance between us and Washington on all of this.

"But by and large and in the great order of things, I would prefer to see an American presence in the Middle East than I would a Russian presence."