US airstrike kills Iranian army officer Amirmohammad Salemi in southwestern Iran

A US airstrike has killed Amirmohammad Salemi, an officer in the Iranian army, in southwestern Iran, according to a report from Iran International. The most comparable historical benchmark is the January 2020 US drone strike that killed Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps General Qassem Soleimani near Baghdad International Airport. That strike sent oil prices surging and briefly pushed Bitcoin higher as traders rotated into perceived safe-haven and alternative assets. It also triggered Iranian ballistic missile strikes on US military bases in Iraq, injuring dozens of American service members. Salemi’s killing differs in one critical geographic respect: southwestern Iran is Iranian sovereign territory, not a third country. The Soleimani strike was conducted in Iraq. Southwestern Iran borders Iraq and includes Khuzestan province, home to a large share of Iran’s oil infrastructure. Iran’s retaliatory options include proxy attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria, cyber operations against financial infrastructure, drone and missile strikes on regional US allies, and disruption of maritime traffic in the Gulf. Iran sits astride the Strait of Hormuz, through which a significant share of glob...