Former Central Intelligence Agency director John Brennan, who will be remembered by many as a defender of the use of “enhanced interrogation” practices on al-Qaida suspects, has recently grabbed worldwide attention after slamming the November killing of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh as “a criminal act.”
The ex-CIA director under the Barack Obama administration, John Brennan, said during the interview with Israel’s Haaretz that late Iranian Top General Qasem Soleimani was his personal “nemesis” during his work for the agency.
Brennan, however, slammed the assassination of the senior general, who was murdered in a Trump-authorised drone strike in Iraq in January this year. According to the former Obama staffer, the killing of “a senior Iranian government official” was a “very arbitrary and dangerous” act which came “without any type of international, lawful basis, without being at war with Iran and without a Security Council decision.”
“I’ve said, and I was criticised for it, that I was not supportive at all of the US strike against Soleimani. I do not disagree that Soleimani had blood on his hands: He was responsible for supporting terrorist groups, as well as for actions they carried out,” Brennan explained.
“He was a very dangerous actor, but again, for the United States to kill a senior official of a foreign country is not in keeping with its commitments to the international system.”
Former CIA chief has expressed remorse for the fact that Soleimani’s assassination was applauded in the United States “on both sides of the political aisle”, ignoring the fact that Trump administration had basically violated the international standards and norms with the move.
Speaking to the newspaper via Skype, Brennan argued that he “wouldn’t be surprised” to find out that Israel “encouraged or even provided some support for the operation.”