Former UK Security Minister credits Trump for fall of the Assad regime

Although the Quds Force commander was replaced after his death, Tugendhat explained that ‘nobody could replace the personal 20-year relationships that he held.’

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

In a podcast interview, UK former Security Minister Tom Tugendhat credited US President Donald Trump’s decision to assassinate Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani with the eventual fall of the Assad regime in Syria.

On the Conflicted podcast, Tugendhat described Soleimani: “I’m always struck by how some people can be much more seminal, much more key, pivotal to an organization than you realize at the time.”

The ex-minister explained that when Soleimani was assassinated in 2020, he “held in his head all of the relationships, all the deals for everybody in the region.”

Although the Quds Force commander was replaced after his death, Tugendhat explained that “nobody could replace the personal 20-year relationships that he held.”

He added, “President Trump, effectively, was the trigger that began the fall of the Assad regime.”

Tugendhat then discussed what the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is saying, first, that “the old guard is corrupt and incompetent. That’s why Hezbollah has been hung out to dry and defeated. That’s why old allies like Assad have fallen.”

He made an additional point that the IRGC is in conflict with the Iranian regime and may want to open a dialogue with the Americans.

Tugendhat said the IRGC has heard “rumors that ayatollah and the government in Tehran want to talk to the Americans to try and find a way out of this.”

However, the IRGC is saying, “There’s absolutely no way anybody can talk to the killers of Qassem Suleimani.”

Tugendhat said, “These extremists are trying to hold the regime to a level of purity that is completely inconsistent with reality.”

He added that as a result of this conflict, “The Iranian regime will collapse within a few years, and if Syria is handled correctly, it could become an economic powerhouse in the Middle East within a decade.”