How Trump’s Killing Of Iran’s Soleimani Will Directly Affect Kenya

Early Friday, Iran and the US confirmed that General Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, and architect of its regional security apparatus, had been killed following a US air raid at Baghdad’s international airport. Kenyans may be wondering what this means and whether they will be affected directly.

Experts have already warned that the retaliation promised by the Iranians may be directed at the weaker US allies, terrorists may also take advantage of the chaos, experts warned that the actual threat on US allies would be the rising possibility of terror attacks, either in revenge against US interests or from groups benefiting from US’ distraction.

“We’d better be prepared for all sorts of Iranian retaliation against US diplomatic and military personnel around the region or world, given his symbolic and actual role,” Dr Richard Haass, President of the Council on Foreign Relations said on Twitter. “Make no mistake: any war with Iran will not look like the 1990 Gulf war or the 2003 Iraq wars. It will be fought throughout the region with a wide range of tools against a wide range of civilian, economic, and military targets. The region (and possibly the world) will be the battlefield.”

The world was also directly affected as oil prices surged almost immediately the news broke. Kenya, an oil importer, should be ready to pour out more money for fuel in the coming weeks. “For Kenya, my view is that global oil prices will likely rise and this will affect our oil imports bill and economic growth,” Dr Kemoli Sagala, a research scholar on governance and strategy at the University of Nairobi told Journalists.

Since 1998, Kenya has also been the most targeted by terror groups opposed to the US since it holds the biggest diplomatic mission in continent Africa and more than often collaborates with the US on counter-terrorism measures, Kenya also has not been in good relations with the Iranian government after Iranian ambassador Dr Hadi Farajvand, left the country in 2019 under a cloud of controversy for trying to free Iranian terror convicts in Kenya.