Concerned Citizens Talk US-Iran Conflict

The latest escalation in the conflict comes after an airstrike authorized by President Trump killed Qasem Soleimani.

FARGO, N.D. – Missiles landed at two U.S. bases in Iraq late Tuesday evening. Another escalation in a series of back and forth attacks between the U.S. and Iran.

“My first priority, as i’m sure is everybody’s, are the lives of American’s in Iraq, Iran, and the Middle East. Thankfully there were no casualties among Americans or our allies, and now I think we need to figure out a way of deescalating this situation” said Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith.

The latest escalation comes after an airstrike authorized by President Trump killed Qasem Soleimani, the general of the Quds Force, Iran’s intelligence agency.

“A lot of media outlets we’re saying ‘Oh he has a huge following, his people love him, and America shouldn’t have killed this figure’, but if you really look back at his track record, it’s not pretty” said Kawar Farok, a Kurdish activist in the Fargo-Moorhead area.

Soleimani is responsible for the deaths of 2,000 protesters and indirectly responsible for the deaths of 500,000 civilians in the Syrian conflict. He was personally sanctioned by the UN for these actions.

American forces in Iraq are now facing consequences because of the air strike, with Iraq’s parliament voting to remove all forces from the country.

Alexander Fetner was born in 2001. For his entire life, America has been in a perpetual state of war.

“No one here in this country wants to go fight another war in Iraq or Afghanistan or anything like that” said Alexander.

That line of thinking seems to be common among young people in the region.

“I don’t want us to put our noses where we don’t need to, just kind of keep the peace a little bit I think we need to stay deescalated unless they launch something personal towards us, like if they strike on American soil” said Joe Huovinen.

“A big sign of maturity would be to practice restraint. It would be a big sign of maturity if nothing happens from here on out” said Kawar.

People in the region appreciate the restraint shown so far, and think it should continue.

“I think we should go strictly for defensive action. It’s not in our best interest to provoke the hornets nest” said Alexander.

The region isn’t itching for a war, but only time will tell if this series of back and forth escalations will drag us into one.