Varney: US airstrike kills top Iranian general, but how will this play out financially?

President Trump’s killing of Qassem Soleimani is a game-changer, but the financial side of the story is difficult to figure out, FOX Business’ Stuart Varney argued in his latest “My Take.”

“Mr. Trump [is] no longer reluctant to fire on Iran in anger and one of the world’s principal terrorists is dead. In the Mideast, that’s a game-changer,” Varney said.

The Trump administration had determined that Soleimani had organized the attack on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad and was planning further attacks on Americans, according to Varney. This, he added, was what led to the president’s decision to strike.

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Soleimani led Iran’s terrorist activity throughout the region and around the world, and his death is both a symbolic and real hit to Iran, Varney suggested.

“The Ayatolla's are already reeling from economic collapse and civil unrest. They’re out of money — can’t export much oil. They’d fallen back on aggression and now that terror thrust has been decapitated. This is hard-line Trump,” Varney said.

Democrats are in a bit of a bind as a result of Trump’s action, Varney argued. While most of them recognize that Soleimani was an enemy to the United States but are worried about escalation, he added. Bernie Sanders described Trump’s action as “dangerous” and Elizabeth Warren called it “reckless.” Joe Biden said it was like throwing dynamite into a tinderbox, according to Varney.

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“They are urging the president to go easy on a terror state,” he argued.

On the whole, Republicans are supportive of Soleimani’s killing — according to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, he was planning an “imminent attack,” Varney said.

“What concerns investors is the possibility of tit-for-tat retaliation that escalates into a new regional war with American forces in the middle of it. We simply don’t know how this plays out,” he argued.

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It still remains to be seen what President Trump will say. Will he celebrate the terrorists killing as he did with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi or will he say he made the decision reluctantly to save American lives? Varney asked.

“What he says will make a big difference to the politics of this and the financial impact,” he concluded.

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