Make no mistake, the assassination of General Qassim Soleimani, Iran’s second most powerful man, alongside the deputy leader of the Popular Mobilization Forces, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, is the most significant event to rock the Middle East since the 2003 US-invasion of Iraq. Seen as heroes to powerful militias in Iraq, the killings will inevitability spell out ongoing violence in Iraq.

The unilateral decision made by President Donald Trump reeks of the current administration’s impulsive nature on foreign policy, void of thought out plans to mitigate consequences and more focused on headline grabbing opportunities.

Labile decision-making, often announced through brazen tweets at untimely hours have had severe consequences in the Middle East throughout Trump’s administration. Last October, Trump’s sudden withdrawal of troops from northern Syria, left thousands of Syrian Kurds fleeing a Turkish incursion.

As is often the case, Trump’s decision in Syria and assassinations in Iraq are not accompanied with a conscious strategy, with the Pentagon and State Department scrambling to formulate policies to deal with the aftermath. secretary of state, Mike Pompeo previously stated that Trump, “makes decisions and then absorbs data and facts.”

US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Show all 35 1 /35 US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures This photo released by the Iraqi Prime Minister Press Office shows a burning vehicle at the Baghdad International Airport following an airstrike in Baghdad, Iraq, early Friday 3 January AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures The wreckage of the car in which general Soleimani was travelling when a targeted US airstrike struck outside Baghdad International Airport on 3 January Ahmad Al Mukhtar via Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Demonstrators burn the US and British flags during a protest in Tehran after general Soleimani was killed in a targeted airstrike by American forces Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A burning vehicle at the Baghdad International Airport following an airstrike. The Pentagon said Thursday that the US military has killed general Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force, at the direction of Donald Trump AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Protesters burn Israeli and US flags as thousands of Iranians take to the streets to mourn the death of general Soleimani at the hands of America EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Supporters of Donald Trump pray at an 'Evangelicals for Trump' campaign event held on the day following the killing of general Soleimani. At the event, the president praised the "flawless strike that eliminated the terrorist ringleader" AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A huge procession of mourners gather in Baghdad for the funeral of general Soleimani on 4 January AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Thousands of Iranians take to the streets to mourn the death of Soleimani during an anti-US demonstration to condemn the killing of Soleimani, after Friday prayers in Tehran, Iran EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iraqis perform a mourning prayer for slain major general Qasem Soleimani of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards at the Great Mosque of Kufa AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A billboard reading 'Death to America and Israel', installed by Iran-backed shiite armed groups at a street in Jadriyah district in Baghdad, Iraq EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A handout picture provided by the office of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei shows him visiting the family of Soleiman KHAMENEI.IR/AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Thousands of Iranians take to the streets in Tehran EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Pakistani Shiite Muslims burn a mock of a US flag as they hold pictures of General Qasem Soleimani during a protest against the USA, outside the US Consulate in Lahore, Pakistan EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iran's Ambassador to Lebanon Mohammed Jalal Feiruznia, looks to a portrait of Soleimani, as he receives condolences at the Iranian embassy, in Beirut, Lebanon AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures People make their way on the street while a screen on the wall of a cinema shows a portrait Soleimani in Tehran AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Aziz Asmar, one of two Syrian painters who completed a mural following the killing of Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani poses next to his creation in the rebel-held Syrian town of Dana in the northwestern province of Idlib AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A demonstration in Tehran AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures An anti-US demonstration to condemn the killing of Soleimani, after Friday prayers in Tehran EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Mujtaba al-Husseini, the representative of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, delivers a speech in the holy shrine city of Najaf AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Pakistani Shiite Muslims burn a mock of a US and Israeli flags as they hold pictures of General Qasem Soleimani during a protest against the USA, outside the US Consulate in Lahore, Pakistan EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Protesters demonstrate in Tehran AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Pakistani Shi'ite Muslims hold pictures of General Qasem Soleimani during a protest against the USA, in Peshawar, Pakistan EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Protesters, holding a photograph of the leader of the People's Mujahedin of Iran Massoud Rajavi, outside Downing Street in London PA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Protesters burn a US flag in Tehran AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A Syrian man offers sweets to children to mark the killing AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranian worshippers attend a mourning prayer for Soleimani in Iran's capital Tehran AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Kashmiri Shiite Muslims shout anti American and anti Israel slogans during a protest AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranian worshipers chant slogans during Friday prayers Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A protest against the USA, in Islamabad, Pakistan EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranians burn a US flag in Tehran EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in Germany (NWRI) protest outside Iran's embassy in Berlin, Germany Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in Germany (NWRI) protest outside Iran's embassy in Berlin Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranian worshippers in Tehran AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Vehicles of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol a road in the southern Lebanese town of Kfar Kila near the border with Israel. Following morning's killing of Major General Qasem Soleimani, Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement called for the missile strike by Israel's closest ally, to be avenged AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranian women take to the streets in Tehran EPA

Since the assassinations in Iraq early Friday morning, the US State Department has had to urge all US citizens in Iraq to leave the country, appearing to strengthen Iran’s grip on Iraq. Iraq’s fragile stability, which took years to build, collapsed overnight as Trump sought to show his military strength.

Announcing the news in typical Trump fashion, the US president posted a picture of the US flag. The notion of celebrating the death of Iran’s second most powerful politician as a “Make America Great Again” moment, shows the short-sightedness of the attack and neglect of the potential dire consequences.

The ease with which Trump can, from a distance, comfortably order the assassination of two senior figures in Iraq, disregarding Iraq’s sovereignty for the second time in a week, is petrifying especially since the outcomes to those living in the region will potentially be disastrous. This form of targeted killing of active senior foreign military personnel sets a worrying new international precedent.

Trump, who initially started conflict with Iran as part of a bid to roll back former president Barack Obama’s legacy, regularly accused Obama of attempting to start a war with Iran just to help re-election. Fast forward to 2020, an election year which up until now has been marred by impeachment proceedings and it appears that a war with Iran is exactly what Trump is seeking.

Understanding that a war-time leader has never lost a re-election campaign, Trump has followed Bill Clinton’s footsteps in an attempt to switch media rhetoric away from impeachment proceedings by conducting air strikes in Iraq and appear as a war hero.

Up until recently, Trump has shown he has no idea who Soleimani is, but has now pushed the Middle East to the brink of war with the assassination of the Iranian general. Trump’s pseudo-authoritarian decision to assassinate Soleimani could potentially throw the region into massive conflict but did not come with congressional approval.

Since the War Powers Resolution in 1973, federal law prevents a US president from committing the US into armed conflict, without prior congressional approval. The significance of killing a senior Iranian figure has been deemed an unconstitutional act of war by many and could now place a number of US troops in danger as a consequence of the attack.

As a journalist who has previously spent time reporting from Iraq, in the last few years I have never been more scared for Iraq’s future than after the news of the assassination, and that includes the war on Isis. The killing of 25 unknown Iraqis last Sunday by US airstrikes resulted in the US embassy being stormed by protestors earlier this week.

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Following the assassination, Pompeo posted a video of Iraqis celebrating the news of Soleimani’s death, showing the little understanding the current US administration has of the complexities of Iraq’s demographics and divided loyalties. Many in Iraq still see Soleimani as their hero – we can expect them to seek revenge far greater than storming the US embassy.