On 3 January 2020, an
attack drone, launched by the United States struck an area near the Baghdad Airport Road, a stretch of highway linking the
Green Zone to the
Bagdad International Airport. The attack killed ten people.
Qasem Soleimani, an Iranian
major general, was among those
killed in the attack while travelling to meet Iraqi Prime Minister
Adil Abdul-Mahdi. Soleimani was commander of the
Quds Force, one of five
branches of Iran's
IRGC, which is designated as a terrorist organization by both the United States and EU Parliament.[4][5] Soleimani was considered the second most powerful person in Iran, subordinate to
Supreme LeaderAli Khamenei.[6] Five Iraqi nationals and four other Iranian nationals were killed alongside Soleimani, including the deputy chairman of Iraq's
Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) and commander of the Iran-backed
Kata'ib Hezbollah militia,
Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis—a person designated as a terrorist by the U.S. and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Pentagon says Soleimani and his troops were "responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members and the wounding of thousands more."[7]
The strike occurred during the 2019–2022 Persian Gulf crisis, which began after the U.S.
withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran in 2018, reimposed
sanctions, and accused Iranian elements of fomenting a campaign to harass U.S. forces in the region in 2019. On 27 December 2019, the
K-1 Air Base in Iraq, which hosts Iraqi and U.S. personnel, was
attacked, killing an American contractor. The U.S. responded by launching
airstrikes across Iraq and Syria, reportedly killing 25 Kata'ib Hezbollah militiamen. Days later, Shia militiamen and their supporters retaliated by
attacking the U.S. embassy in the
Green Zone.
U.S. officials justified the Soleimani strike saying it was necessary to stop an "imminent attack", though later clarifying the legal justification of the action as being taken "in response to an escalating series of attacks...to protect United States personnel, to deter Iran from conducting or supporting further attacks...and to end Iran's strategic escalation of attacks..."[8] Some experts, including the United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, considered the assassination as a likely violation of
international law as well as U.S. domestic laws. Iran called the strike an act of "
state terrorism". The Iraqi government said the attack undermined its national sovereignty and considered it a breach of its bilateral security agreements with the U.S. and an act of aggression against its officials. On 5January 2020, the
Iraqi parliament passed a non-binding resolution to expel all foreign troops from its territory while, on the same day, Iran took the fifth and last step of reducing commitments to the
2015 international nuclear deal.
Soleimani's killing sharply escalated tensions between the U.S. and Iran. Iranian leaders
vowed revenge, while U.S. officials said they would
preemptively attack any Iran-backed paramilitary groups in Iraq that they perceived as a threat. Many in the international community reacted with concern and urged restraint and diplomacy. Five days after the airstrike, Iran launched a series of
missile attacks on U.S. forces based in Iraq, the first known direct engagement between Iran and the U.S. since the naval battle precipitating the
Vincennes incident on 3 July 1988. Following the shootdown of
Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752—a civilian airliner—by the IRGC amidst the escalation, no additional military actions took place.[9]
The modern
Middle East has seen a number of occasions in which the assassination of high-level government and military figures was attempted, or at least considered. Such instances include United States
decapitation strike air raids targeting Libyan leader
Muammar Gaddafi in 1986 and Iraqi leader
Saddam Hussein in 1991, 1998, and 2003, in addition to killings or attempted killings of non-state terrorist leaders such as
Anwar al-Awlaki and
Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.[10] Governments conducting assassinations of foreign leaders and officials was largely frowned upon in prior centuries, but that norm has been weakening over time, especially since
World War II.[11] The effectiveness of anti-terrorist "leadership targeting" has become a subject of scholarly debate, especially with regard to whether such killings are actually beneficial to a country's foreign policy goals.[12]
In the wake of the strike against Soleimani, both the topic of further eroding norms and questions regarding effectiveness were raised.[13] The costs and benefits of foreign policy assassinations are difficult to compute, and decisions to go ahead with such actions often reflect the vague, and not always realized, hope that any successor to the targeted person will be less capable against, or will embody policies more favorable toward, the country taking the action.[10]
Concerning the 15-year
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action provisional nuclear deal with Iran, some critics of the treaty argued that Iran could make a
nuclear bomb after expiry of the limited-term nuclear deal.[15] U.S. President
Donald Trump criticized the nuclear deal, particularly the
Obama administration's debt clearance of $1.7 billion to Iran.[16][17][18] Tensions rose between Iran and the U.S. in 2018 after Trump unilaterally
withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal and reimposed
sanctions against Iran[19]—which severely affected Iran's economy[20]—as a part of his administration's strategy of applying "maximum pressure" against Iran for the purpose of establishing a new nuclear deal.[21][22][23]
The
Quds Force, which Qasem Soleimani led, has been designated a terrorist organization by Canada,[24] Saudi Arabia, Bahrain,[25] and the U.S.[26][27] Soleimani himself was sanctioned by the United Nations[28] and the
European Union[29][30][31] and was on U.S. terror watchlists.[32]
Ever since the
Iran–Iraq War (1980–88), in which Iran was attacked by
Saddam Hussein's Iraq with significant assistance of several Western countries siding with Hussein against Ayatollah
Ruhollah Khomeini's
Islamic republic in Tehran,[41] with notably the U.S. supplying weapons and intelligence to Iraq,[42] Soleimani had developed into the architect of all of Iran's foreign policies in the Middle East[39][40][43] and a key figure in all of Iran's foreign and defence policies.[39] He provided crucial support to President
Bashar al-Assad's regime during the
Syrian Civil War.[44] In his 2008 letter to the U.S. General
David Petraeus, then
Commander of the
Multi-National Force in Iraq, he asserted: "General Petraeus, you must know that I, Qasem Soleimani, am in charge of the Iranian policies concerning Iraq,
Lebanon,
Gaza and
Afghanistan".[40]Iran's alleged ties to the
Taliban were cited as part of the justification for the assassination of Soleimani.[45] That made his killing by the U.S. on 3 January 2020 a significant aggravation[41] of the
existing tensions between the U.S. and Iran.
In the days after the assassination of Soleimani, Iran's leaders vowed "shattering revenge"[39] "on places and at times where the U.S. don't expect it".[46]
Prior threats against Soleimani
Responses to Qasem Soleimani's perceived influence in Iraq and abroad had been a topic of debate amongst U.S. officials for many years. In August 2007, as U.S. military officials attempted to learn more about the leadership of the Iran-backed proxy groups operating in Iraq, they received a message relayed through the Iraqi Minister of State for National Security, that Soleimani wanted them to know that he was "the sole decision-maker on Iranian activities in Iraq".[47]
According to a report by NBC News,
Eric Edelman, a career foreign services officer with senior diplomatic posts at the time, U.S. commander Army General
George Casey, considered designating Soleimani and
Quds Force officers enemy combatants, thus making them subject to military action. However, the idea was ruled out over concerns of opening a "new front" in the war. Edelman stated, "There were a lot of us who thought he should be taken out. But at the end of the day, they decided not to do that," due to concern of starting simultaneous conflict with Iran.[48]
Former U.S. presidents
George W. Bush and
Barack Obama both considered and rejected targeting Qasem Soleimani, reasoning that it would escalate to a full-scale war. Retired CIA officer Marc Polymeropoulos told The New York Times that Soleimani, unlike other adversaries killed by the U.S., felt comfortable operating in the open and was not hard to find. He often took photographs of himself and openly taunted U.S. forces.[49]
In October 2007, the Bush administration was the first to designate Soleimani a terrorist on the basis of his involvement with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and Quds Force, and the increasing recognition of the role they played in the Iraq conflict.[50] According to an interview with a
PolitiFact journalist, retired U.S. Army Colonel Frank Sobchak, said that around the same time U.S. special forces had planned for his capture, but the mission was not approved by senior officials. He said, "Individuals that we talked to in senior positions of the U.S. government told us that with support for the war at an all-time low in 2007, the Bush administration recognized the importance of Soleimani to the war, but was not willing to risk the political capital and repercussions that could occur from expanding the war to that level."[51]
These activities preceded escalating concern and terror designations of Soleimani by the
Obama administration. The first such designation was made in May 2011, in response to Soleimani's assistance to the
Syrian General Intelligence Directorate in the violent suppression of Syrian protestors.[52] The second, and more serious designation by the
Obama administration came in October 2011, after a plot was revealed in which four senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF) officers were planning to assassinate the Saudi Arabian Ambassador while in the United States, under the supervision of Soleimani.[53]
In September 2015, radio host
Hugh Hewitt asked Donald Trump about Soleimani. After initially confusing him with a
Kurdish leader, Trump argued that leaders like Soleimani would be dead under his administration.[54]
It was reported in 2015 that
Israel was "on the verge" of assassinating Soleimani on Syrian soil; however, the U.S., during the Obama administration's negotiations for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, thwarted the operation by revealing it to the Iranian officials.[55]
On 25 August 2019,
Israeli Foreign MinisterIsrael Katz said, "Israel is acting to strike the head of the Iranian snake and uproot its teeth... Iran is the head of the snake and Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards Quds Force, is the snake's teeth."[56] In October 2019,
Hossein Taeb, chief of the
Intelligence Organization of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, told the press that his agency had arrested an unspecified number of people, allegedly foiling a plot by Israeli and Arab agencies to assassinate Soleimani. He said they had planned to "buy a property adjacent to the grave of Soleimani's father and rig it with explosives to kill the commander".[57] He added the way of the assassination would have appeared as part of an internal Iranian power struggle to "trigger a religious war inside Iran".[58]Yossi Cohen, chief of the Israeli foreign intelligence agency (
Mossad), said in response, "Soleimani knows that his assassination is not impossible."[59]
On 2 January 2020, The New York Times author
Steven Simon wrote in a comment: "What if the former commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Qassim Suleimani, visits Baghdad for a meeting and you know the address? The temptations to use
hypersonic missiles will be many."[60]
In early October 2019, according to two Iraqi militia commanders and two security sources who spoke with
Reuters staff, Iranian
Major-General Qasem Soleimani met in Baghdad to discuss a change in strategy with Iraqi Shiite militia allies.[61] The new focus of strategy was to be an increase in targeted rocket attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq, with the intended effect of provoking an antagonistic U.S. military response that would divert political pressure from Iran. Leading up to the meeting, there had been increasing anti-Iran sentiment amongst the local Iraqi population, culminating in prolonged and vocal anti-Iran protests, with some demonstrators banging their shoes on raised portraits of
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.[62][63] At least 400 protestors were killed and an estimated 20,000 wounded.[64][61][62][65][63] Soleimani decided to step up attacks on U.S. forces. He chose
Kata'ib Hezbollah because the group "would be difficult to detect by the Americans" and could use Iran-provided scout drones for more precision in target selection for the rocket attacks. The US was becoming increasingly concerned at Iran's influence within the Iraqi government.[61]
On 27 December 2019, the K-1 Air Base in
Kirkuk Province, Iraq—one of many Iraqi military bases that host Operation Inherent Resolve coalition personnel—was
attacked by more than 30 rockets, killing an
Iraqi-American U.S. defense contractor,[66] and injuring multiple U.S. and
Iraqi service members.[67] The U.S. blamed the Iranian-backed Kata'ib Hezbollah militia for the attack.[68] Furthermore, a senior U.S. official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity, said there had been a campaign of 11 attacks on Iraqi bases hosting OIR personnel in the two months before the 27 December incident, many of which the U.S. also attributed to Kata'ib Hezbollah.[69][70] On 29 December 2019, retaliatory U.S. airstrikes targeted five Kata'ib Hezbollah weapon storage facilities and
command and control locations in Iraq and Syria.[71][72] 25 militia members died[73] and 55 were wounded.[74]
On 31 December 2019, after a funeral was held for the Kata'ib Hezbollah militiamen, dozens of Iraqi
Shia militiamen and their supporters marched into the Green Zone and surrounded the U.S. embassy compound.[75] Dozens of the demonstrators then smashed through a main door of the checkpoint, set fire to the reception area, raised
Popular Mobilization Units militia flags, left
anti-American posters, and sprayed anti-American
graffiti.[76][77][78] U.S. president Donald Trump accused Iran of orchestrating the attack on the embassy and added that they would be held "fully responsible".[79] Iran's foreign ministry denied they were behind the protests.[80][81][82]
Pentagon evaluation
The Pentagon evaluated Soleimani as the leader of Tehran's attacks on
U.S. bases in Iraq, including the 2019 K-1 Air Base attack and killing of a U.S. civilian, and the
shooting down of a U.S. aerial vehicle. Regarding the decision to kill Soleimani, the U.S. focused on both his past actions and a deterrent to his future action as the Pentagon announced that "he was actively developing plans to attack
U.S. diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region."[83][84][85][86]
Trump briefing
According to an unidentified senior U.S. official, sometime after the bombing of Kata'ib Hezbollah in late December 2019, a security briefing was convened at President Trump's
Mar-a-Lago estate where he and his advisors, including Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo, Defense Secretary
Mark Esper, and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff General
Mark Milley discussed how to respond to Iran's alleged role in sponsoring anti-U.S. attacks in Iraq. Reportedly, the
targeted killing of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, whom U.S. officials regarded as a facilitator of attacks on U.S. personnel in Iraq, was listed as the "most extreme option"[87] of many options on a briefing slide,[88] reflecting an alleged practice among Pentagon officials whereby a very extreme option is presented to presidents so as to make other options appear more palatable.[89][87] Trump chose the option to kill Soleimani, prompting the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies that had tracked Soleimani's whereabouts for years to locate him on a flight from
Damascus to Baghdad, reportedly to hold meetings with Iraqi militiamen. The air strike would have been called off if Soleimani had been on his way to meet with Iraqi government officials aligned with the U.S.[2]
Trump did not notify the top congressional leaders of the
Gang of Eight in advance of the strike. Senator
Lindsey Graham indicated Trump had discussed the matter with him in advance of the strike, as he was visiting the president at his Mar-a-Lago estate.[90][91] According to journalist
Bob Woodward, four days before the strike, Graham tried to change Trump's mind as they discussed the decision while playing golf.[92]
Trump's alleged motivation for the strike
According to unidentified sources cited by The New York Times, Trump initially rejected the option to target Soleimani on 28 December 2019, but made the decision after being angered by television news reports of the U.S. embassy in Baghdad being attacked by armed Iranian-backed militiamen, namely
Kata'ib Hezbollah and the
Popular Mobilization Forces, on 31 December.[87] This followed a 27 December rocket attack by Kata'ib Hezbollah on an airbase in
Kirkuk that killed an American civilian contractor and injured four U.S. service members and two
Iraqi security forces personnel. By late 2January, Trump had finalized his decision of the most extreme option his advisors had provided him, which reportedly "stunned" top Pentagon officials. The New York Times report cited unidentified U.S. officials as saying the intelligence regarding Soleimani's alleged plot against the U.S. was "thin" and that the Ayatollah had not approved any operation for Soleimani to carry out. However, General Milley said the intelligence was "clear and unambiguous" with a time frame of "days, weeks".[93] U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Vice President
Mike Pence were reportedly the most hawkish voices arguing to retaliate against Iran.[2] Pence later wrote that Soleimani was plotting "imminent" attacks on U.S. persons, but provided no evidence of this.[94][95][96] U.S. National Security Advisor
Robert O'Brien insisted that Soleimani "was plotting to kill, to attack American facilities, and diplomats, soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines were located at those facilities".[97]
In contrast to the Times' reporting, according to unidentified sources cited by The Washington Post on 4 January 2020, Trump wanted to kill Soleimani[a] to avoid the appearance of weakness amid the ongoing Persian Gulf crisis, since his decision to call off an airstrike against Iran in summer 2019 after the downing of a U.S. drone had led to what he perceived as negative media coverage. Lawmakers and aides who had spoken to him told the Post that the president also had the
2012 Benghazi attack in Libya on his mind.[89] Furthermore, Mike Pompeo[b] had discussed killing Soleimani with Trump months before the strike, but did not garner support from the president or the defense team then in place.[101] However, according to The Wall Street Journal on 10 January 2020, Trump purportedly told associates after the strike that he was motivated to strike Soleimani for domestic political gain, particularly to sway
Republican senators to support him in his upcoming Senate
impeachment trial.[102]
On the day of the strike, Pompeo asserted the attack was ordered by Trump to disrupt an "imminent attack" by Soleimani operatives, although subsequent reports on that rationale were mixed.[103][104][2][105] On 9January, Trump said "We did it because they were looking to blow up our embassy. We also did it for other reasons that were very obvious. Somebody died, one of our military people died. People were badly wounded just a week before."[106] On 10 January, Trump claimed that Soleimani had been planning attacks on four U.S. embassies in the Middle East.[107] Afterwards several members of Congress, including
Mike Lee and
Chris Murphy, claimed that the Trump administration had not informed them of this in the intelligence briefing on the strike.[108] Three days after Trump's remarks, Defense Secretary
Mark Esper clarified that, although "there was evidence" of a plot against the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, the president "didn't cite intelligence" about the other three embassies he mentioned, and that the president instead shared his belief that there "probably could have been" a plot against those embassies.[109][110][111]
On 18 January,
CNN reported that President Trump claimed that Soleimani was "saying bad things about our country", then he asked "How much of this shit do we have to listen to?... How much are we going to listen to?"[112]
Soleimani's trip to Iraq
Adil Abdul-Mahdi, the prime minister of Iraq, said he was scheduled on the day of the attack to meet Soleimani, who was delivering Iran's response to a previous message from Saudi Arabia that Iraq had relayed.[113] According to Abdul-Mahdi, Trump had called him to request that Abdul-Mahdi mediate the conflict between the U.S. and Iran before the drone strike.[114][115]
As news of the event broke, the U.S. Department of Defense issued a statement which said that the strike was carried out "at the direction of the president" and was meant to deter future attacks. Trump asserted that Soleimani had been planning further attacks on American diplomats and military personnel and had approved the attack on the American embassy in Baghdad.[84][134][135]
According to Saudi-based Arab News, the drone that struck Soleimani's convoy had been launched from
Al Udeid Air Base in
Qatar, and was controlled remotely by operators at the
Creech Air Force Base.[136] A statement by the Air Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) stated that
Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait participated, among other bases in the region, in the operation that was executed near Baghdad airport recently. Kuwait summoned the Iranian ambassador to Kuwait over the statement and expressed Kuwait's resentment and categorical denial at such statement.[137] According to
Ahmed al-Asadi, a member of the
Iraqi Parliament, the drones "were 3 American UAVs that took-off from the military-base of
Ain al-Assad and flew in the sky of Baghdad for 20 hours on Thursday morning and then came back directly to the Ain al-Assad base after carrying out the assassination operation."[138][better source needed]
Casualties
As DNA results were still pending regarding the identification of those killed, a senior Pentagon official said there was "high probability" that Soleimani would be identified.[139] Soleimani's body was identified by a ring that he was known to wear.[140][f]Ahmed Al Asadi, a spokesman for the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), confirmed the deaths of Soleimani and Muhandis.[131] According to Ayatollah
Ali Sistani's office, the casualties included "several commanders who defeated
Islamic State terrorists".[142]
The IRGC said a total of ten people were killed. Along with Soleimani, four other IRGC officers were also killed: Brigadier General Hossein Pourjafari, Colonel Shahroud Mozafarinia, Major Hadi Taremi and Captain Vahid Zamanian.[143] The remaining five casualties were Iraqi members of the PMF: deputy chairman
Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, chief of protocol and public relations Muhammed Reza al-Jaberi,[144] Mohammad al-Shibani, Hassan Abdul Hadi and Heydar Ali.[145]
Contemporaneous assassination attempt
On the same day of the Baghdad airport strike, an IRGC financier and key commander,
Abdulreza Shahlai,[g] was unsuccessfully targeted by U.S. drones in Yemen,[147] which killed Mohammad Mirza, a Quds Force operative, instead.[148] Shahlai was also responsible for the killing of five American soldiers in
Karbala, Iraq on 20 January 2007.[149]
According to a Washington Post investigation, the unsuccessful operation might indicate a broader operation than previously explained, raising questions about whether the mission was designed to cripple the leadership of the IRGC or solely to prevent an imminent attack on Americans as originally stated.[150]
Aftermath
Soleimani and al-Muhandis' deaths raised tensions between the U.S. and Iran. As stated by
France 24, the targeted killing of Qasem Soleimani "caused alarm around the world, amid fears that Iranian retaliation against American interests in the region could spiral into a far larger conflict".[151]
Shortly after the attack, several planes with U.S. service members took off from bases in the
eastern United States.[152] The following day, the U.S. Department of Defense announced the deployment of 3,500 members of the
82nd Airborne Division to the region, one of the largest rapid deployments in decades.[153] Defense officials said the deployment was not directly related to the airstrike which killed Soleimani, but was instead a "precautionary action in response to increased threat levels against U.S. personnel and facilities".[154]
According to some media reports, a Royal Navy nuclear-powered submarine armed with
Tomahawk missiles was allegedly ready to strike Iran if tensions escalated in the Middle East.[156][157]
Alleged Taji road airstrike
The day after the Baghdad airport attack, Iraqi state news reported that there had been another airstrike on a convoy of medical units of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces near
Camp Taji in
Taji, north of Baghdad. An Iraqi Army source told Reuters the attack killed six people and critically wounded three.[158] The PMF later said there was no senior commander in the convoy, and the
Imam Ali Brigades denied reports of the death of its leader.[159] The PMF also denied that any medical convoy was targeted at Taji.[160] There was no information about who conducted the attack. Spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve Colonel Myles B. Caggins III said the coalition did not do it, while Iraq's Joint Operations Command denied reports of any such attack occurring, saying it was simply a false rumor that spread quickly due to the prior airport strike.[161]
A spokesman for the Iranian government said the country's top security body would hold an extraordinary meeting shortly to discuss the "criminal act of attack".[162] Iran's Supreme Leader
Ali Khamenei warned that "retaliation is waiting".[163] On 4January, the
U.S. Department of Homeland Security said there was "no specific, credible" threat to the U.S. mainland but warned about Iranian capabilities.[164] Trump warned Tehran that any retaliation would result in
the U.S. targeting 52 Iranian significant sites, including cultural sites.[165] The 52 sites were reported to represent the 52 American hostages held during the
Iran hostage crisis.[166][167]Hossein Dehghan, the main military adviser of Iran, and Iranian Foreign Minister
Javad Zarif asserted that attacks on Iranian cultural sites would be grave breaches of international law. U.S. secretary of state
Mike Pompeo avoided a direct answer when asked about cultural targets, saying that Washington will do the things that are right and the things that are consistent with U.S. law.[168] U.S. secretary of defense Mark Esper later asserted that cultural sites would not be targeted because "That's the laws of armed conflict."[169]
On 5 January 2020, the
Islamic Consultative Assembly of Iran chanted "America, the
greatest Satan", during its session.[170] That day, Iran announced that it would suspend all its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal[171] except that it would continue to cooperate with the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, the
International Atomic Energy Agency. The statement added, "If the sanctions are lifted... the Islamic Republic is ready to return to its obligations."[172][173]
In a speech[174] broadcast on 8 January on Iranian television
IRINN TV, Iranian President Rouhani stated that Iran would no longer stick to the 2015 nuclear agreement restrictions on uranium enrichment: "Iran's nuclear industry will prosper" he said. Secondly, Rouhani mentioned in his speech that "They cut off the hand of our dear Soleimani" and as revenge they, the Iranians, would cut off the legs of the Americans and toss them out of neighboring countries.
The remains of Soleimani and the Iranian figures killed in the strike arrived in Iran on 5January, where they became part of mourning processions in several cities, first in
Ahvaz[175] and later in
Mashhad, where one million people attended the mourning. It was initially reported that Iran canceled the mourning procession planned in Tehran because the city would not be able to handle the number of attendees expected after the turnout in Mashhad;[176][177] however, the Tehran service was held, at which Ayatollah Ali Khamenei publicly wept while leading prayers for the funeral. Iranian state media said the crowd of mourners numbered in the "millions", reportedly the biggest since the 1989 funeral of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah
Ruhollah Khomeini.[178][179] Iranian authorities planned to take Soleimani's body to
Qom on 6January for public mourning processions,[180] then onto his hometown of
Kerman for final burial on 7January.[181][182] Before the national procession was completed, multiple infrastructure works, such as the
international airport at Ahvaz and
an expressway in Tehran, had already been renamed after him.[183][184] The funeral was boycotted by critics of the current government by using the hashtag #IraniansDetestSoleimani for the IRGC's war crimes.[185][186] The hashtag was amplified by "inauthentic" accounts almost immediately after creation.[187][188]
On 7 January 2020, at least 56 people were killed and 213 injured in a stampede during Soleimani's burial at Kerman. As a result, the burial was postponed to a later time.[189][190]
Shortly after the confirmation of Soleimani's death, U.S. spy agencies reportedly detected that Iran's
ballistic missile regiments were at a heightened readiness but it was unclear at the time if they were defensive, cautionary measures or an indication of a future attack on U.S. forces.[191]
On 8 January 2020, Iranian forces launched ballistic missiles at the
Al Asad Airbase and an airbase near
Erbil, both in Iraq, where American personnel were located.[192][193] The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps declared that the strikes were part of their retaliation for the killing of Soleimani.[194] No Iraqi or American casualties were initially reported.[195]
According to the
Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), the country's state-run news outlet, Iran fired "tens of ground-to-ground missiles" at the base and claimed responsibility for the attacks.[196] The attacks unfolded in two waves, about an hour apart.[197] The Pentagon said these bases were on high alert after signs of the Iranian government were planning attacks on U.S. forces.[198] Although the Pentagon disputes the number launched, it has confirmed that both the Ayn al-Asad and the Erbil airbases were hit by Iranian missiles.[199][200] A military spokesman for
U.S. Central Command said a total of 15 missiles were fired. Ten hit the Ayn al-Asad airbase, one hit the Erbil base, and four missiles failed.[197] Other sources confirmed that two ballistic missiles targeted Erbil: one hit
Erbil International Airport and did not explode, the other landed about 20 miles (32 km) west of Erbil.[201] On 8January
Saudi Arabia's Deputy Defense Minister
Prince Khalid bin Salman said the Kingdom would stand with Iraq and do everything in its power to spare it from the "danger of war and conflict between external parties".[202] The same day a
Ukrainian passenger jet was shot down by the Iranian military over Tehran after presumably being mistaken for an enemy cruise missile. All 176 people on board were killed, including 82 Iranians and others with dual citizenship.[203][204]
Following a series of conflicting and confusing reports, the Pentagon confirmed that several dozen servicemen had been injured to varying degrees of severity, by the Iranian missile strikes.[205]
Oil prices
Global oil prices rose moderately in reaction to Soleimani's death to heights not seen for three months,[206] before falling back down.[207][208] Following Iran's zero-fatality missile attack, prices were lower than before the airstrike that killed al-Muhandis.[209]
On 2 January 2022, the second anniversary of Soleimani's assassination, The Jerusalem Post's website was hacked, displaying an illustration threatening Israel's
Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center. The image featured a ballistic missile shooting out of a red ring worn on a finger, an apparent reference to the notable ring worn by Soleimani. The Twitter accounts of the Jerusalem Post and Maariv were also targeted. It was unclear if the hack was state sponsored or was conducted by pro-Iranian sympathizers.[210]
2024 Kerman bombing
On 3 January 2024, at an event commemorating his death four years after it happened, a
bomb exploded in the Iranian city of
Kerman killing 103 people.[211] Iranian State Media blames "terrorists" as the perpetrators of the bombing, although they have not provided specifications as to who. Iranian president
Ebrahim Raisi condemned the attacks and vowed to bring those responsible for the "heinous act" to justice.[212]
Iraqi response
In the wake of the Baghdad strike, the
U.S. embassy in Baghdad urged Americans to leave Iraq immediately "via airline while possible, and failing that, to other countries via land".[213] The next day, Britain warned its nationals to avoid all travel to Iraq outside the
Kurdistan region, and to avoid all but essential travel to Iran.[214]Australia issued a similar warning advising its nationals to "leave Iraq as soon as possible".[215]
On 4 January, the funeral procession for Soleimani, al-Muhandis, and the other Iraqis and Iranians was held in Baghdad and attended by thousands of mourners who chanted "
death to America, death to Israel". Iraqi Prime Minister
Adil Abdul-Mahdi was also present.[216] The cortege began around
Al-Kadhimiya Mosque, a Shiite holy site in Baghdad, before heading to the Green Zone government and diplomatic compound where a state funeral was held. From Baghdad, the procession moved to the Shia holy city of
Karbala and on to
Najaf, where al-Muhandis and the other Iraqis were buried, while the coffins of Soleimani and the Iranian nationals were sent to Iran.[217][218] Following the mourning procession in Baghdad,[219] unknown people fired short-range rockets towards the U.S. embassy and at the U.S.
Balad Air Base.[220] The U.S. Central Command, which oversees operations in the Middle East, said no Americans were harmed by the sporadic rocket attacks on 4January.[2]
On 6January,
Chevron evacuated all its American oil workers from
Iraqi Kurdistan as a "precautionary measure".[221]
Al-Manar reported that "in an extraordinary session on Sunday, 170 Iraqi lawmakers signed a draft law requiring the government to request the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. Only 150 votes are needed that the draft resolution be approved."[222] There are 329 lawmakers in total.
Rudaw Media Network (Kurdish) described the 170 Iraqi lawmakers that signed the law as
Shiite[223] and that "Iraqi parliament's resolution to expel foreign troops has no legal consequences."[224]Al Jazeera reported the resolution read "The government commits to revoke its request for assistance from the international coalition fighting Islamic State due to the end of
military operations in Iraq and the achievement of victory" and "The Iraqi government must work to end the presence of any foreign troops on Iraqi soil and prohibit them from using its land, airspace or water for any reason."[225] The resolution was approved in the Iraqi parliament.[226] In response to the vote, Trump threatened Iraq with sanctions that would "make Iranian sanctions look somewhat tame" and demanded reimbursement for American investments on military facilities in Iraq.[227]
On 6 January 2020, the Pentagon released a letter from Marine Brigadier General
William Seely to Abdul Amir, the Iraqi deputy director of Combined Joint Operations Baghdad, informing him that "as requested by the Iraqi Parliament and the Prime Minister,
CJTF–OIR will be repositioning forces over the course of the coming days and weeks to prepare for onward movement."[228] Shortly afterward,
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of StaffMark Milley said, "That letter is a draft. It was a mistake, it was unsigned, it should not have been released... [it was] poorly worded, implies withdrawal, that is not what's happening."[229]
In mid February, the Iraqi government confirmed to
NATO, that they could restart its training missions, which have been paused since the attack. Troops from
CJTF–OIR are expected to be moved and work under the NATO banner instead.[235][236]
The
sustained massive street protests in Iraq that led to Abdul-Mahdi's resignation as prime minister (and temporary caretaker role) restarted in the days after the assassination of Soleimani and al-Muhandis, with a shift in the focus of protests from mostly anti-Iran to criticism of both the U.S. and Iran.[237][238][239] The "Made in Iraq" street and online protests strengthened in Baghdad following the assassination.[240] Major protests took place on 5January 2020 in many cities,[237][238] "Made in Iraq" protests on 7January,[240] and two thousand protested in
Basra and
Nassiriyah on 10 January, with one of the slogans being "Neither America nor Iran, our revolution is a young revolution."[239]
On 24 January, several hundred thousand Iraqis protested against U.S. military presence in Iraq and called for them to leave the country after Shia cleric
Muqtada al-Sadr called for a "Million Man March." Iraqi President
Barham Salih tweeted, "Iraqis insist on a state with complete sovereignty that will not be breached."[241]
On 31 December 2021, hundreds of Iraqis rallied ahead of the second anniversary of the US assassination of Qassem Soleimani, burning a model of the US embassy in Iraq. Demonstrators gathered outside
Baghdad’s Green Zone – which includes the sprawling US Embassy compound calling for the expulsion of American forces still in Iraq.[242]
Anniversary protests
On 3 January 2021, the one year anniversary of the killings of Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, thousands of Iraqis demanded
American forces pull out of the country in protests in
Liberation Square, Baghdad. The anniversary of their deaths in
Baghdad was also marked in Iran and by supporters in
Syria,
Lebanon,
Yemen and elsewhere in the
Middle East.[243]
Legality
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adding to it. (July 2021)
The airstrike's legal justification became a subject of debate.[244][245][246][247] In 2022, Iranian President
Ebrahim Raisi declared that unless Trump and Pompeo are brought to trial in an Iranian
Islamic Court, revenge will be sought.[248]
Potential violation of international law
In January 2020, after the U.S. killed Soleimani,
US Ambassador to the United NationsKelly Craft wrote a letter to the
UN Security Council in which she said that the act was one of
self-defense.[249] At the same time, she wrote in the letter that the US stood "ready to engage without preconditions in serious negotiations with Iran, with the goal of preventing further endangerment of international peace and security or escalation by the Iranian regime."[249]
The
Charter of the United Nations generally prohibits the
use of force against other states, if a country does not consent to it on its territory.[250] The
Government of Iraq did not grant permission to the U.S. to target a military commander from another country on its soil.[247][250] Some legal experts believe a lack of consent from Iraq makes it difficult for the U.S. to justify the attack.[250]
Agnès Callamard, the
United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, issued an opinion that the airstrike "most likely violate[d]
international law incl[uding]
human rights law", adding that killing of other individuals alongside Soleimani was "absolutely unlawful".[244][251] On 6 July 2020, Callamard said that the attack was the first known incident in which a nation invoked self-defence as a justification for an attack against a state actor in the territory of a third country and that the United States has failed to provide sufficient evidence of an ongoing or imminent attack against its interests in order to justify the strike. In a report to be presented to the UN human rights council, Callamard wrote "the course of action taken by the US was unlawful" and was a violation of the UN charter.[252]
U.S. officials denied the claim. On 8 July 2020, responding, the U.S. State Department said "This tendentious and tedious report undermines human rights by giving a pass to terrorists and it proves once again why America was right to leave the council."[253] UK Defence Secretary
Ben Wallace said: "the intelligence information I have seen, under the right to defend yourself against an imminent threat, that would have been met."[254]
A spokesman for
Boris Johnson, prime minister of the United Kingdom, said, "States have a right to take action such as this in self-defence."[256] Johnson later said "...the strict issue of legality is not for the UK to determine since it was not our operation", in response to
Leader of the OppositionJeremy Corbyn who called it an "illegal act" and asked for the government to condemn it.[257]
NBC News correspondents reported that according to five current and former Trump administration officials, Trump had authorized the killing of Soleimani back in June 2019 on the condition that "Iran's aggression resulted in the death of an American." According to the correspondents, given the overall timeline of events, this report may call into question for some the Trump administration's citied reason of "imminent threats" as a cause of the killing.[48]
Iran said it will pursue a
war-crimes case against U.S. president Donald Trump at the
International Criminal Court in the Hague.[258] On 29 June 2020, Iran issued an arrest warrant against U.S. President Donald Trump and asked
Interpol for help: Tehran prosecutor Ali Alqasimehr accused Trump and 30 others of "murder and terrorism charges" for the killing of Qasem Soleimani. The request was rejected, however, as Interpol constitution forbids it to undertake "any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character".[259] On 5 January 2021, Iran asked for another
Interpol notice against Trump and 47 others for their roles in the killing;[260] it was rejected on the same grounds.[261]
On 7 January 2021, Iraq's judiciary issued an arrest warrant against Trump, accusing him of "premediated murder", due to his role in the deaths of Qasem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.[262]
PMF is legally incorporated into the Iraqi security forces by a series of laws enacted by the parliament and Prime Ministerial orders, therefore, technically, the U.S. killed a senior Iraqi official (
Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis) and other military personnel of Iraq.[263][264]
A mutual agreement signed in 2008 prohibits the U.S. from launching attacks on other countries from Iraqi territory.[250] Iraqi Prime Minister
Adil Abdul-Mahdi said the attack was a "breach of the conditions for the presence of U.S. forces in Iraq".[265] He also said "The assassination of an Iraqi military commander who holds an official position is considered
aggression on Iraq... and the liquidation of leading Iraqi figures or those from a brotherly country on Iraqi soil is a massive breach of sovereignty."[245] He and
Speaker of the Council of RepresentativesMohamed al-Halbousi released separate written statements, both calling the attack a breach of Iraq's
sovereignty.[266][267]
According to the office of the Iraqi caretaker prime minister, the U.S. secretary of state has subsequently been requested to send a delegation to Iraq tasked with formulating the mechanism for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.[268]
Executive Order 11905, signed in 1976, to prevent
assassination attempts on Fidel Castro, states that "no person employed by or acting on behalf of the United States Government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, political assassination."[72] According to Vicki Divoll, a former attorney for the Central Intelligence Agency who served as general counsel of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, as president, Trump was not legally bound to follow the Executive Orders of prior administrations banning political assassinations, the targeted killing of Solemani was a breach of domestic criminal law.[273] Divoll argued that amendments to
Title 18 of the United States Code, specifically Article 51, § 1116, passed by Congress in the 1970s in response to the Munich Olympic Massacre, stating in part: "whoever kills or attempts to kill a foreign official, official guest, or internationally protected person shall be punished as provided under sections 1111, 1112, and 1113 of this title", applied to the airstrike and rendered Trump's actions an unambiguous act of murder under the federal criminal code.[273]
The Trump administration said it was authorized under both the
Constitution and the
2002 Authorization of Use of Military Force Against Iraq. The Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs
Eliot Engel said "The 2002 authorization was passed to deal with Saddam Hussein. This law had nothing to do with Iran or Iranian government officials in Iraq. To suggest that 18 years later this authorization could justify killing an Iranian official stretches the law far beyond anything Congress ever intended."[274]
Congressional war powers resolution
This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(May 2020)
Some members of Congress, which generally was not consulted or briefed before the Soleimani strike, sought to restrict the president's ability to conduct future military operations against Iran without congressional consent. On 6January 2020, House Speaker Pelosi announced plans to hold a vote within the week on limiting President Trump's
war powers concerning Iran.[275] On 8January 2020, Pelosi announced that a vote will be held by the entire House on 9January to limit President Trump's war powers concerning any future escalation of conflict with Iran.[276][277][278] The
House Rules Committee cleared the way for a full House vote by approving parameters which set up a two-hour debate on 9January.[279] The House vote is considered significant, as the
U.S. Constitution provides that while the president may use the military to defend the country, any
declaration of war must be approved by Congress (note that Congress has never declared war on anyone
since World War II).[280] Trump criticized the effort, arguing that congressional approval should not be needed to militarily engage Iran "because you have to be able to make split-second decisions sometimes".[281] The resolution was later defeated by presidential veto after clearing the senate.[282]
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei vowed to take "harsh revenge" against the United States[283][284] and declared three
days of mourning.[285] President
Hassan Rouhani also said Iran "will take revenge."[286] Foreign Minister
Mohammad Javad Zarif called the attack "an extremely dangerous and foolish escalation."[287] Iran sent a letter to the United Nations, calling it "[s]tate terrorism" and said it violated principles of international law.[288] On 7January,
Iran's parliament approved a €200 million increase in the Quds Force's budget, to be used in two months.[289] Reuters reported that some Iranians, including Soleimani supporters, fear that a war could break out at a time of economic hardship and widespread corruption. Some older Iranians recalled memories of the
Iran–Iraq War.[290]
In Iraq, outgoing Prime Minister
Adil Abdul-Mahdi condemned the attack, calling it an assassination, an act of aggression and a breach of Iraqi sovereignty that could lead to war in Iraq. Subsequently, he declared three days of national mourning.[291] Abdul-Mahdi also said the strike violated the
agreement on the presence of U.S. forces in Iraq and legislation should provide safeguards for Iraq's security and sovereignty.[292] The speaker of Iraq's parliament, Mohammed al Halbousi, vowed to "put an end to U.S. presence" in Iraq.[293] The Iraqi parliament voted to ask the U.S. to withdraw their forces from Iraq.
Muqtada al-Sadr, leader of the
Sadrist Movement and the
Saraya al-Salam militia, ordered his followers to "prepare to defend Iraq."[294] Despite the government opposing the airstrike, many Iraqis who are against the PMF celebrated the killing of Soleimani.[295][296][297]
On 4January, Trump tweeted that 52 Iranian targets (representing the 52 American hostages in the
1979–81 Iran hostage crisis) had been selected if Iran "strikes any Americans, or American assets."[298][299] Iranian President Rouhani responded to Trump's warning, saying "(t)hose who refer to the number 52 should also remember the number 290," referring to the death of 290 people in 1988 when a U.S. warship shot down
Iran Air Flight 655.[300] Among those targets were
Iranian "cultural sites",[301] and Trump subsequently insisted he would not hesitate to destroy such targets even after some said it could be considered a war crime.[302]
After the assassination, terrorist groups such as
ISIS celebrated and said that it "benefitted them."[303][304]
U.S. Senate Majority LeaderMitch McConnell voiced support for the airstrike, referring to Soleimani as "Iran's master terrorist."[305]House SpeakerNancy Pelosi referred to the attacks as "provocative and disproportionate." She introduced a "war powers resolution" to require Trump's administration to end any hostilities with Iran within 30 days if not approved by Congress.[306] "The present authorizations for use of military force in no way cover starting a possible new war," Senator
Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said. "This step could bring the most consequential military confrontation in decades."[44]
The Democratic candidates for the
2020 U.S. presidential election largely condemned the airstrike,[307] with Senator
Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) describing it as a "wag-the-dog" incident.[308]
American foreign policy critic
Noam Chomsky called the assassination "an extraordinarily dangerous act," saying it was "as if Iran had decided to murder Mike Pompeo and a major general along with him at the Mexico City International Airport."[309]
United NationsSecretary-GeneralAntónio Guterres expressed concern over the escalation and called for leaders to "exercise maximum restraint."[310]NATOSecretary GeneralJens Stoltenberg said, following a meeting on 6January, "(w)e are united in condemning Iran's support of a variety of different terrorist groups" and that "Iran must refrain from further violence and provocations."[311]
Senior officials of the
U.S. Department of State compared the assassination to
Operation Vengeance in
World War II, when American pilots shot down the plane carrying Japanese Admiral
Isoroku Yamamoto[312][313]—a comparison also offered by The New York Times, who said killing Yamamoto was "the last time the United States killed a major military leader in a foreign country".[2] Other major media and prominent pundits echoed the comparison.[312][314][315][316]
According to the
Russian Ministry of Defense, "Russia has offered Iraq their S-400 air defense system to protect their airspace."[317][318] For only the second time since the start of the country's civil war nearly nine years ago, the Russian president,
Vladimir Putin, arrived in Syria to meet with its president,
Bashar al-Assad, on 7January.[319] In another meeting, in Baghdad, on 6January, Zhang Tao, the Chinese ambassador, told Iraq's caretaker Prime Minister al-Mahdi that "China is keen to increase security and military cooperation in Iraq."[320]
In the 2022 video game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, the player is tasked with killing a fictional Iranian general named Ghorbrani using a cruise missile. Many news outlets noted that this mission appears to be heavily inspired by the assassination of Qasem Soleimani. The fictional character also visually resembles Soleimani.[323][324][325]
^U.S. President
Donald Trump claimed that Soleimani was responsible of planting thousands of
roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan, by saying: "He was the king of the roadside bombs, great percentages of people don't have legs right now and arms because of this son of a bitch [Qassem Soleimani]".[98] Moreover, British Prime Minister
Boris Johnson mentioned that Soleimani supplied "improvised explosive devices to terrorists, which I'm afraid killed and maimed British troops".[99]
^Soleimani used to avoid using his private plane because of increasing concerns regarding his own security, according to an Iraqi security source familiar with his security precautions.[116]
^Investigators in Iraq and Syria have concentrated on how collaborators inside the Damascus and Baghdad airports aided the U.S. military to track and pinpoint Soleimani's position.[116] In addition,
NBC News reported that
Israel helped in confirming the details provided by the informants.[119] In June 2020, an Iranian citizen, Seyed Mahmoud Mousavi Majd, was sentenced to death for leaking information that led to Suleimani's death;[120] he was executed a month later.[121] In May 2021,
Yahoo! News reported that three teams of
Delta Force operators were present during the operation, including sniper teams positioned nearby. Israelis, who had access to Soleimani's phone numbers, provided them to the Americans who traced him to Baghdad and Kurdish
spec ops at the Baghdad International Airport helped to identify Soleimani. Later on, as two Hellfire missiles hit Soleimani's vehicle, the other vehicle in the motorcade tried to escape before being hit by another missile.[122]
^U.S. Special Operations forces (SOF) were about 0.5 miles (800 m) behind Soleimani's convoy when it was targeted. However, SOF were on the scene within few minutes and performed a
bomb damage assessment, where they dragged Soleimani's body out, and took pictures of it along with his belongings, including his damaged cellphone which made further investigations impossible.[141]
^The
United States Department of State's
Rewards for Justice Program offers up to 15 million USD in rewards for financial background information about the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its branches, including information related to Abdul Reza Shahlai.[146]
^In 2015, the U.S.
Federal Reserve and
Treasury Department halted Iraq's access to its funds at the New York Fed accounts for several weeks, fearing that they would be eventually taken by Iranian banks as well as ISIS.[230] However, Iraq's oil revenues deposited at the Fed were valued at $3billion every month at the end of 2018, according to The Wall Street Journal.[231] Meanwhile, Iraqi officials declared that around $35billion of the country's oil revenues are held at the U.S. Federal Reserve, which are equal to 90% of the national budget.[232]
^In the meantime, U.S. President
Donald Trump mentioned that Iraq should pay back for the facilities built there, if the U.S. military leaves, as their money held in the U.S., otherwise the troops would stay in Iraq.[233] Moreover, the Trump administration drafted sanctions against Iraq whether they expel U.S. troops.[234]
^For the leading proponent of the view that leadership targeting is not effective, see Jordan, Jenna (2019). Leadership Decapitation: Strategic Targeting of Terrorist Organizations. Stanford University Press.
ISBN978-1-5036-0824-5.. For arguments that such targeting does work, see Price, Bryan C. (Spring 2012). "Targeting Top Terrorists: How Leadership Decapitation Contributes to Counterterrorism". International Security. 36 (4): 9–46.
doi:
10.1162/ISEC_a_00075.
JSTOR41428119.
S2CID15188795.; and Johnston, Patrick B. (Spring 2012). "Does Decapitation Work? Assessing the Effectiveness of Leadership Targeting in Counterinsurgency Campaigns". International Security. 36 (4): 47–79.
doi:
10.1162/ISEC_a_00076.
JSTOR41428120.
S2CID53519659.
^Ali H. M. Abo Rezeg (3 January 2020).
"PROFILE—Who is Qasem Soleimani?".
Anadolu Agency. Archived from
the original on 4 January 2020. Retrieved 8 January 2020. He was among the Iranian individuals who were sanctioned by the UN Security Council resolution 1747
^Ali H. M. Abo Rezeg (3 January 2020).
"PROFILE—Who is Qasem Soleimani?".
Anadolu Agency. Archived from
the original on 4 January 2020. Retrieved 8 January 2020. on 24 June 2011, an official statement by the European Union said that European sanctions were imposed on three Iranian commanders of the Revolutionary Guards including Soleimani.
^Lubold, Gordon; Youssef, Nancy A.; Coles, Isabel (7 January 2020). "Iran Fires Missiles at U.S. Forces in Iraq". The Wall Street Journal.
Archived from the original on 8 January 2020. Retrieved 7 January 2020. White House national security adviser Robert O'Brien told reporters in Washington on Tuesday that General Soleimani "was plotting to kill, to attack American facilities, and diplomats, soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines were located at those facilities".
^Golberg, Geoff (9 January 2020).
"Inauthentic Twitter Accounts Continue Pushing For War With Iran". Medium.
Archived from the original on 20 February 2020. Retrieved 20 February 2020. Translated: nearly 1/5th of the accounts (998) identified in our post from October have recently tweeted, retweeted or were mentioned in tweets where #IraniansDetestSoleimani appears
^Tim Shipman (12 January 2020).
"Ben Wallace interview: We can't rely on US". The Times.
Archived from the original on 12 January 2020. Retrieved 12 January 2020. The intelligence information I have seen, under the right to defend yourself against an imminent threat, that would have been met.
^Rubin, Alissa J.; Hubbard, Ben; Hassan, Falih (4 January 2020),
"Cries of 'Revenge Is Coming' at Funerals for Slain Commanders in Iraq", The New York Times,
archived from the original on 5 January 2020, retrieved 5 January 2020, Tens of thousands mourned the killing of a major Iraqi official and a top Iranian general by a U.S. drone strike... The militias have since been brought under the umbrella of the Iraqi security forces, and Mr. al-Muhandis was their deputy head.
^Batrawy, Aya.
"Trump's threats draw Iran's cultural sites into tensions". The Washington Post. AP. Archived from
the original on 5 January 2020. Retrieved 5 January 2020. If culturally prominent sites were targeted, the Trump administration might argue they were being used to covertly stockpile weapons that could target U.S. interests and personnel in the region.
^Press conference transcript:
"Senior State Department Officials on the Situation in Iraq," Special Briefing, 3 January 2020, Office of the Spokesperson,
U.S. Department of State, retrieved 26 September 2021; "SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL ONE: ...Secretary Esper... said that Soleimani was developing plans to attack diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region, and so this is a defensive strike. ... * * * QUESTION: The decision to take [Soleimani] out wasn't necessarily a way of removing this... threat that you were talking about in these different countries and these different facilities – but it's a way to mitigate it in the future?... SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL THREE: It slows it down. It makes it less likely. It's shooting down Yamamoto in 1942."
^Ian W. Toll:
"Before Soleimani, there was Yamamoto. But the history is very different." 12 January 2020, Washington Post, retrieved 26 September 2020; "The U.S. military's targeted killing of... Qasem Soleimani... was not unprecedented. A famous antecedent occurred during World War II, when U.S. forces targeted a senior Japanese admiral by shooting down his aircraft in the South Pacific. Lately the episode has been mentioned amid the debate over justifications of the Soleimani strike..."
^Lowry, Rich:
Where Does Admiral Yamamoto Go to Get His Apology?" in "Politics & Policy," 6 January 2020, National Review, retrieved 26 September 2020; "Before there was Qasem Soleimani, there was Admiral Yamamoto... If it was wrong to kill Soleimani, it was wrong to kill Yamamoto — just as barbaric and illegal, just as damnable an 'assassination.'"