President Trump ordered the killing of the second most powerful man in Iran, Qassem Soleimani, on January 2nd. The killing took place in Baghdad, Iraq.

The assassination of Soleimani has caused increased tension between the United States and Iran, and the possibility of war that is now being called: “World War III” by many. Accompanying the strain between the two nations is an overwhelming amount of fear.

With the many other issues in the world such as the environment and elections that seem more dedicated to showing the disputes between candidates it is very clear that we should be striving for peace and not war; however, this situation could get worse very quickly which is why it is understandable that people are concerned.

In the past week, my Twitter feed has been nothing but WWIII memes. Although some are funny, others are just out of line. The constant sharing of memes shows that people are afraid of things getting worse and ultimately the third world war breaking out, but are trying their best to take the news lightly and so am I. 

Senior Julian Cuascut said, “Honestly, I don’t quite understand the magnitude of it. As a young American, all I see are constant jokes and memes about it, so I’m not truly aware of just what [Trump’s] decision may have in store for us in the future but I do not think there will be a world war over it.”

People are panicking but for a valid reason and this fear ranges from those in the military who are first to be deployed (many of which have already been deployed), to men in the United States who could get drafted in the instance that the military needs more assistance. At this point, regular civilians are also afraid of losing their life if the strikes escalate to war. 

Junior Jose Soto added, “Even though the chances of getting drafted are drastically low, I can see why they might be scared. With the number of countries in possession of nuclear weapons and other sorts of mass destruction weapons, it’s scary to fight a war that you don’t want to be apart of.”

Many have already begun to criticize President Trump’s decision to kill Soleimani. Writers from the Washington Post such as Greg Sargent and Paul Waldman are defending the idea that there was no way Iran was an imminent threat if he had plans to kill Soleimani since last June. Do not get me wrong, I have had my fair share of doubts about the success of President Trump and I do not see eye to eye with him on the majority of his opinions. Despite this, I do believe that something needed to be done because we as a society cannot grow, learn and prosper when the United States and Iran have had a questionable and strained relationship for years. 

Senior Junior Cantero said, “the Great Captain America once said something along the lines of “If you end a war before it even starts then innocent people will die.” [Trump] killed the threat before the threat could strike but it caused Iran to be more of a threat so we had to deploy.”

Perhaps killing one of the most powerful men in Iran was not the “solution” but I think President Trump made a move because no one else was handling the situation to protect the United States. It might have been a stunt to add to the elections coming up in 2020 but something needed to happen and although I believe Trump should have analyzed his decision more deeply as well as the possible effects of killing Soleimani but he did something. He did not do the right thing, which would have been and should be a peaceful form of reconciliation with Iran, but he did something.

While Cantero emphasized that, “Trump’s decision affected everyone because he was selfish in thinking that he was making people safe when he wasn’t; he sees the military as weapons”, Soto said that, “a huge part has to do with the 20’ elections coming up and he’s trying to secure votes as soon as he can. His intentions were definitely to start a war.”

I would like to acknowledge that for our generation, it can be very hard not to see people or things the way that the media portrays them. In this case, many believe that President Trump started this war and the media is portraying him as the cause of war when in reality, the issues between the two countries have been constant for years.

Iran and the U.S. have been at odds since the 1970s and in 1988, the U.S. admitted to having helped Iraq in a war against Iran, ultimately helping them grow and gain power. It should be noted that after 9/11, Soleimani helped the U.S. upstage Taliban but the United States is not quick to trust anyone entirely and it seems that soon he became an “enemy” for the U.S. once again. 

What is important to note is that there are innocent people in the middle of all of this and males around the nation are afraid of getting drafted. While in Iran, civilians are not only afraid of war but are already being killed as well. Waging war over a dispute will only result in more destruction and nothing will be solved. An effective and clear consensus should be reached in order to maintain peace between the two countries. 

The United States and President Trump are more than capable of ending any other possible violence tactic and presenting a treaty between Iran and the United States to establish the safety of civilians. The treaty could include all the reasons why it is best not to escalate any problems they have had in the past and put their countries ahead of disputes always. In the past, we as a society have been able to negotiate and in many cases created treaties such as the Treaty of Paris and the Treaty of Versailles. The Treaty of Paris not only established the United States, but it also did it on favorable terms. The Treaty of Versailles ended WWI between the western allies and Germany.

War should not be an option, not even a last resort, there is always a better way to figure things out than destruction and tearing others down. Cuascut concluded with, “I don’t think there is any “good” method to the madness. War is war. In my eyes, violence is never necessary.”