WASHINGTON - The prospect of a US-Iran war has suddenly become very likely with the assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad by the United States on Friday (Jan 3).

General Soleimani was the powerful chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, which operates across the Middle East through proxies or allies like Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthi in Yemen, and President Bashar al-Assad of Syria. And he is also a hugely popular and heroic figure in Iran.