Former Israeli ambassador: 'Fumbling' Iran retaliation shows country is 'much less dangerous' without Soleimani
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Former Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Dan Gillerman reacted to Iran firing as many as 15 ballistic missiles into Iraq on Wednesday, saying the country’s “fumbling” retaliation shows the country is “much less dangerous” without Iranian Quds Force Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
The missiles were fired into Iraq Wednesday in a major retaliation by the rogue regime after a U.S. drone strike last week that killed Soleimani, officials said. The U.S. blamed Soleimani for the killing of hundreds of American troops and said he was plotting new attacks just before his death.
Speaking to Fox News anchor Eric Shawn during special live coverage early Wednesday, Gillerman said, “This, I think was a fumbling, not very well planned, response.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“It’s something they [Iranians] probably felt they had to do, and they had to do it especially for home consumption and to make their people feel that they are doing something,” he continued. “I hope very much it’s also all they will do. But if it is, it is certainly not the magnitude of which we expected and it does show that without Qassem Soleimani, Iran is probably much less dangerous, much less capable and much less of a threat.”
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President Trump said on Wednesday that no U.S. casualties were reported in the attack.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Gillerman told Shawn that he thinks the attack was “far from what people expected them [Iran] to do and I think it may also be the last time they do it because they know that they now have a president who means what he says, who sticks by his word, who draws a red line and sticks to it.”
“America is back in a big way and is again the leader of the free world and the Iranians have taken notice,” he went on to say. “And if this is all they did, then I think this could be considered very successful action by the Americans and as far as Israel is concerned, we [are] really not worried about Iran. We [are] well prepared for anything they may do.”
Gillerman added that he thinks that the fact that Soleimani was killed “is a very, very, very good thing not just for Israel and the region, but for America and the world.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“You have removed the most dangerous person, the architect of Iran’s plan to destroy Israel and attack the U.S. And I think that tonight, to a great extent, proves that you’ve done the right thing,” he said.
When asked if Israelis are concerned that tensions could escalate, Gillerman answered, “We are following the situation very, very carefully.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He said that if Iran and Lebanon try to attack Israel, the country “has very, very far advanced capabilities of preventing those attacks from being lethal, and from causing much damage.”
“The response from Israel would be so severe, and so destructive to Lebanon, I mean, Hezbollah, if they does [sic] it, will actually put the whole of Lebanon in danger, including their most important facilities and I think they would think twice,” he added.
Gillerman went on to say that he thinks “the Iranians too would be very, very careful.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He said if there would be “a devastating attack on Israel by Iran, Iran would not look the same as it does today.”
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“We are not Saudi Arabia,” Gillerman said. “We are well prepared. We have very, very, very severe capabilities, and we will not hesitate to use them against Iran if it is stupid enough to try and attack Israel.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fox News’ Frank Miles contributed to this report.