WWIII Scandal
Iranians rallying behind their government after the killing of general Qasem Soleimani. Photo courtesy of: Wiki Commons
Early in 2020 news broke out that one of Iran’s general’s Qasem Soleimani was assassinated in a U.S. drone strike. Ever since then tensions between the U.S. and Iran have been high, President Trump stated that the strike was ordered to stop a war.
Since then many people have come out and have shown either their disagreement or their agreement with the potential war. The internet erupted when news broke out of a potential World War III, however, likely not the way most people expected.
“Iran is talking very boldly about targeting certain USA assets as revenge for our ridding the world of their terrorist leader who had just killed an American, & badly wounded many others, not to mention all of the people he had killed over his lifetime, including recently….” said President Trump via Twitter on January 4th, 2020.
The controversy sparked a Twitter meme explosion that had people posting videos of how they would escape the potential nuclear war. Many people also made jokes about the drafting process that would occur.
“I definitely think that all the WWIII memes are funny but the actual things that are going down behind the memes are scary to think about,” said Bryan Pelaxtla (10).
The controversy led to an Iranian attack on U.S. troops stationed in nearby Iraq. No casualties occurred due to the attack but the sentiment was clear to the U.S. and its inhabitants that Iran was not messing around.
“I don’t know how serious Iran and the U.S. are about this, but it’s certainly not fun to think about nuclear war,” said Jose Mendoza (10).
An Iranian legislator offered a $3 million bounty for the president’s head, in other words, whoever could kill him. Robert Wood who is the U.S. disarmament ambassador dismissed the news, however, he said such words are terrorist underpinnings.
“We will give three million dollars to anyone who kills Trump,” said Ahmed Hamzeh member of Iran’s parliament.
“If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran. Never threaten the United States again!” said President Trump via Twitter on May 19th, 2019.
