US seeking ‘honourable exit’ as regional influence fades, says Iran

Iran’s parliament speaker says foreign powers are losing their grip on the Middle East as a regional order takes shape. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf linked the shift to two commanders assassinated by the United States in January 2020. “Dear Abu Mahdi and Haj Qassem! This is the fruit of your struggle and your blessed blood,” he wrote on X. Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis served as a commander in Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces, while Qassem Soleimani led the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. A US drone strike killed them near Baghdad airport. “In the new regional order, the interference of foreign powers in relations between countries is rapidly diminishing; America is looking for an honourable exit from the region, and the Zionist regime’s project from the river to the sea has become nothing more than a pipe dream,” Ghalibaf said.