Gen Soleimani should have been eliminated years ago, says Trump
The US military killed General Qasem Soleimani, the powerful commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, in a drone strike in Iraq on Friday to protect American personnel abroad, dramatically escalating hostilities between the arch-rivals and spiking tensions in the already volatile Persian Gulf region.
Gen Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite al-Quds force and architect of its regional security apparatus, was killed when a drone fired missiles into a convoy that was leaving the Baghdad International Airport early on Friday. The strike also killed the deputy chief of Iraq’s powerful Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary force and some local Iran-backed militias.
Gen Soleimani, 62, was widely seen as the second most powerful figure in Iran behind the Ayatollah Khamenei. His Quds Force, an elite unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, reported directly to the ayatollah and he was hailed as a heroic national figure.
The Pentagon said, “At the direction of the president, the US military has taken decisive defensive action to protect US personnel abroad by killing Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force, a US-designated Foreign Terrorist Organisation.”
Following Soleimani’s killing, Trump, on vacation in Florida, initially tweeted an image of the US flag. Hours later, he tweeted again. “Iran never won a war, but never lost a negotiation!” he wrote, in an apparent slight against the nuclear deal Barack Obama negotiated with Tehran.
The strike comes days after Trump threatened Tehran after Iraqi supporters of pro-Iranian regime laid siege to the US embassy in Baghdad, following deadly American air strikes on a hardline Hashed faction.
Gen Soleimani and officials from Iran-backed militias were leaving Baghdad airport in two cars when they were hit.
He had reportedly flown in from Lebanon or Syria. Several missiles struck the convoy and at least six people are believed to have died, according to media reports from Baghdad.
The Pentagon alleged that the strike was aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans.
“General Soleimani was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region. General Soleimani and his Quds Force were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members and the wounding of thousands more,” it said.
The Pentagon said that Soleimani had “orchestrated” attacks on coalition bases in Iraq over the last several months - including the attack on December 27 - culminating in the death and wounding of additional American and Iraqi personnel.
“General Soleimani also approved the attacks on the US embassy in Baghdad that took place this week,” it said.
“The US will continue to take all necessary action to protect our people and our interests wherever they are around the world,” it said. Meanwhile, global oil prices have soared by more than four per cent in the wake of the attack.
The news of Soleimani’s killing generated different reactions in Washington along party lines with Republicans heaping praise on Trump and Democrats expressing concerns about the legality and consequences of the strike.
“I appreciate President @realDonaldTrump’s bold action against Iranian aggression,” Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a fierce Trump ally, tweeted. “To the Iranian government: if you want more, you will get more.”
Trump’s decision was supported by his former Cabinet colleague, Indian- American Nikki Haley, the former US Ambassador to the United Nations. “Qasem Soleimani was an arch terrorist with American blood on his hands. His demise should be applauded by all who seek peace and justice. Proud of President Trump for doing the strong and right thing,” she tweeted.
Senator Marco Rubio backed Trump’s action in a tweet. “They chose to ignore these warnings because they believed @POTUS was constrained from acting by our domestic political divisions. They badly miscalculated,” he said.
Senator Bernie Sanders, who is also running for president in the Democratic primary, called it a “dangerous escalation” that brings the US “closer to another disastrous war in the Middle East that could cost countless lives and trillions more dollars.”