Middle East braced for Iranian reaction to US strike (updated)
In the aftermath of the death of Maj Gen Qasem Soleimani, head of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC's) Quds Force, in a US air strike in Iraq on 2 January, the threat level in the Middle East region continues to escalate as Iranian officials promise retaliation.
The Persian Gulf and the approaches to the Strait of Hormuz and Gulf of Oman already saw a number of incidents in the latter part of 2019, including attacks on four tankers off the coast of the UAE. The seizure of the British-flagged Stena Impero was widely seen as retaliation for the apprehension
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