America’s allies in the Gulf could be on the front line of Iranian reprisals after the assassination of military commander Qasem Soleimani inflamed fears of a disastrous escalation, analysts say. Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ foreign operations arm, was killed Friday along with an Iraqi pro-Iran leader and their entourage by a US air strike near Baghdad international airport. The strike, ordered by President Donald Trump, came three days after an attack on the US embassy in the Iraqi capital by a pro-Iran mob.