Maajid Nawaz tears down caller who compares Soleimani to the Queen

11 January 2020, 18:40

This was Maajid Nawaz's bullish response when a caller tried to claim that killing General Soleimani was like killing the Queen.

Kumar from Ealing compared the leadership in Iran with the monarchy and insisted that Iranians looked at the US airstrike that killed their top general as we would if the Queen had been killed.

But Maajid wouldn't take that, insisting: "In Iran, the head of state actually has real power. Does the Queen have a Revolutionary Guards Council that has direct military control? Not only over domestic affairs, but also over foreign policy.

"The Queen doesn't have that does she? This is insanity."

Early on Wednesday, the Boeing 737 jetliner was shot down just hours after Iran launched a ballistic missile attack on two military bases in Iraq housing US troops.

The attacks were in response to the death of Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani who was killed by the US in an airstrike in Baghdad.

Iran's ambassador to the UK apologised on Twitter for suggesting Iran could not have shot down the plane.

He wrote: "In my statement yesterday to the UK media, I conveyed the official findings of responsible authorities in my country that missile could not be fired and hit the Ukrainian plane at that period of time.

"I apologise and regret for conveying such wrong findings."

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani pinned the blame on the US, saying its "threats and bullying" in the days after General Soleimani's death were responsible for the tragedy.

He expressed condolences to the families of the victims and called for a "full investigation" into the crash.