Donald Trump says US 'acted to stop a war' by killing Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in airstrike

Luke O'Reilly3 January 2020

Donald Trump has said the US acted to stop a war by killing Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in an airstrike.

The head of Tehran's elite Quds Force was killed by a US drone strike in Baghdad airport on Friday morning.

Soleimani spearheaded Middle East military operations and Mr Trump claimed he "should have been taken out many years ago".

At a press conference on Friday, the US president said: “We took action last night to stop a war. We did not take action to start a war.”

President Donald Trump delivers remarks on Iran
AP

Mr Trump said the US was not seeking regime change, but claimed the world was a safer place without “monsters” such as Soleimani.

He said: “If Americans anywhere are threatened we have all of those targets fully identified and I am ready and prepared to take whatever action is necessary, and that particularly refers to Iran.”

He added that the Iranian general was plotting "imminent and serious attacks on American diplomats".

Soleimani pictured in 2016
AP

Mr Trump said: "Under my leadership America's policy is unambiguous to terrorists who harm or intend to harm any American, we will find you, we will eliminate you.

"We will always protect our diplomats, service members, all Americans and our allies."

U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks following the U.S. Military airstrike
REUTERS

His statement comes as the US announced that 3,000 more Army troops would be sent to the Middle East as reinforcements.

The US has already sent nearly 15,000 troops to the Middle East since May, when it first publicly claimed Iran was planning attacks on US interests.

This includes 700 soldiers deployed to Kuwait earlier this week after the storming of the US Embassy compound in Baghdad by Iran-backed militiamen and their supporters.

President Trump said that he ordered the killing of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani because he had killed and wounded many Americans over the years and was plotting to kill many more.

The strike marked a major escalation in the conflict between Washington and Iran, as Iran vowed “harsh retaliation” for the killing of the senior military leader.

Donald Trump ordered the rocket attack which led Iran to promise 'harsh revenge'
AFP via Getty Images

The two nations have faced repeated crises since Mr Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal and imposed crippling sanctions.

The United States urged its citizens to leave Iraq “immediately” as fears mounted that the strike and any retaliation by Iran could ignite a conflict that engulfs the region.

US secretary of state Mike Pompeo defended the strike as “wholly lawful”, saying that Soleimani posed an “imminent” threat against the US and its interests in the region.

“There was an imminent attack,” Mr Pompeo told Fox News.

“The orchestrator, the primary motivator for the attack, was Qasem Soleimani.”

The White House did not inform politicians before the strike.

It was expected to give classified briefings to members of Congress and staff in the afternoon.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
AFP via Getty Images

The embassy in Baghdad, which was attacked by Iran-backed militiamen and their supporters earlier this week, is closed and all consular services have been suspended.

Around 5,200 American troops are already based in Iraq, where they mainly train Iraqi forces and help to combat Islamic State militants.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that “harsh retaliation is waiting” for the US, calling Soleimani the “international face of resistance”.

He declared three days of public mourning and appointed Major General Esmail Ghaani, Soleimani’s deputy, to replace him as head of the Quds Force.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called the killing a “heinous crime” and vowed his country would “take revenge”.

Thousands of worshippers in the Iranian capital Tehran took to the streets after Friday prayers to condemn the killing, chanting “Death to deceitful America”.

The targeted strike, and any retaliation by Iran, could ignite a conflict that engulfs the region, endangering US troops in Iraq, Syria and beyond.

Over the last two decades, Soleimani had assembled a network of heavily armed allies stretching all the way to southern Lebanon, on Israel’s doorstep.

The car that was carrying Gen. Soleimani
AP

However, the attack may act as a deterrent for Iran and its allies to delay or restrain any potential response. Oil prices surged on news of the air strike while markets were mixed.

The killing promised to strain relations with Iraq’s government, which is allied with both Washington and Tehran and has been deeply worried about becoming a battleground in their rivalry.

The US Defence Department said it killed 62-year-old Soleimani because he “was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region”.

It also accused him of approving the violent protests at the US Embassy in Baghdad.

The strike, on an access road near Baghdad’s airport, was carried by a US drone, according to an American official.

Soleimani had just disembarked from a plane arriving from either Syria or Lebanon, a senior Iraqi security official said.

The blast tore his body to pieces along with that of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of the Iranian-backed militias in Iraq known as the Popular Mobilisation Forces.

Iran’s state TV said 10 people were killed, including five Revolutionary Guard members and Soleimani’s son-in-law, whom he did not identify.

The tensions are rooted in Mr Trump’s decision in May 2018 to withdraw the US from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers, struck under his predecessor Barack Obama.

Since then, Tehran has shot down a US military surveillance drone and seized oil tankers.

The US also blames Iran for other attacks targeting tankers and a September assault on Saudi Arabia’s oil industry that temporarily halved its production.

Supporters of Friday’s strike said it restored US deterrence power against Iran, and Trump allies were quick to praise the action.

“To the Iranian government: if you want more, you will get more,” South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham tweeted.

“Hope this is the first step to regime change in Tehran,” Mr Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton wrote in a tweet.

Others, including Democratic White House hopefuls, criticised Mr Trump’s order.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said the president had “tossed a stick of dynamite into a tinderbox”, saying it could leave the US “on the brink of a major conflict across the Middle East”.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in