Donald Trump and his top diplomat, Mike Pompeo, have claimed Qassem Soleimani posed an “imminent” threat to American lives that justified the airstrike that killed him in Baghdad last night.
The US president said the Iranian general was “plotting to kill” US citizens, but neither he nor Mr Pompeo provided additional details to support the claim. Americans in Iraq have been urged to leave immediately in the wake of the killing.
Soleimani, the head of the elite Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force and Tehran’s most senior military commander in Iraq, was killed near Baghdad Airport alongside Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a high-ranking commander in Iraq’s militia.
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Donald Trump is now retweeting messages supportive of his actions in ordering the death of Qassem Soleimani.
Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader of the House of Representatives, has issued a statement calling on the president to brief Congress on how he plans to deal with the fallout from his killing of Qassem Soleimani.
She said: “American leaders’ highest priority is to protect American lives and interests. But we cannot put the lives of American servicemembers, diplomats and others further at risk by engaging in provocative and disproportionate actions. Tonight’s airstrike risks provoking further dangerous escalation of violence. America – and the world – cannot afford to have tensions escalate to the point of no return.
“The Administration has conducted tonight’s strikes in Iraq targeting high-level Iranian military officials and killing Iranian Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani without an Authorization for Use of Military Force against Iran. Further, this action was taken without the consultation of the Congress.
“The full Congress must be immediately briefed on this serious situation and on the next steps under consideration by the Administration, including the significant escalation of the deployment of additional troops to the region.”
Now he's back on to impeachment.
Donald Trump has gone on a retweet spree. First, Dinesh D'Souza, a conservative commentator who had made a disparaging remark about Chuck Schumer - one of the president's Democratic nemeses.
Then, Mike Pompeo, who claimed Iraqis were "dancing in the street for freedom" after Qassem Soleimani was killed.
Then, a Wall Street Journal columnist who praised William Barr, Mr Trump's current attorney general, and implicitly mocked Greta Thunberg, Time's person of the year, with whom Mr Trump has feuded online.
Then, a podcaster who mocked intelligence analysts who had talked up Iran's power.
And, finally, the official White House announcement of Soleimani's death.
Two and half years ago claims began to surface in the security world that highly placed Saudi officials, close to the royal family, were trying to take out contracts to assassinate enemies of the Kingdom with Qassem Soleimani as the prime target, writes Kim Sengupta.
The proposition was said to have been made at a meeting in Riyadh in March 2017. Among those present was major general Ahmed Al-Assiri, the deputy head of Al-Mukhabarat Al-A’amah, the intelligence service, who was later tried and acquitted by a Saudi court for the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The Saudi authorities refused to comment on the alleged meeting as did lawyers for two businessmen supposedly present, George Nader, a Lebanese-American and Joel Zamel, an Israeli with close connections to his country’s intelligence apparatus. According to security and diplomatic sources the two men refused to get involved.
Qassem Soleimani: The elusive general who was feared by his foes and fiercely admired at home
Long-serving leader of Iran's elite militia whose killing ensures major consequencesEmmanuel Macron has held talks with Vladimir Putin on the situation in Iraq.
In a statement, the French president has said Iran should refrain from any provocation.
The US president pivots seamlessly from high-stakes foreign policy to promoting a book by a conservative Christian author and Fox News contributor.
Dramatic images of the flaming wreckage left by US airstrikes that killed Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani have been published by the Iraqi military, writes Andy Gregory.
The Pentagon said on Friday that Donald Trump ordered the surprise attack on two vehicles close to Baghdad International Airport, marking a serious provocation in already tense relations between US, Iran and their allies.
Soleimani, the hugely influential Revolutionary Guard Quds Force commander said to have played a role in almost every aspect of Iranian military expansion across the Middle East, was reported dead alongside Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a leader of the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) – an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia.
Iraq releases dramatic images of flaming wreckage from deadly airstrike ordered by Trump
Iraq’s security media cell releases pictures of burning vehicles in aftermath of attackDonald Trump has unleashed a second torrent of tweets following the killing of Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad, on his orders.
He claims Iran is dominating and controlling the Iraqi populace, having built its influence over the past 15 years. Quite what that has to do with money paid to Iraq - "on top of all else we have done for them" - by the US is not clear.
In a statement justifying the killing of Qassem Soleimani, Donald Trump claimed that the Iranian general was responsible for the deaths of “millions” of people, and for the killing and wounding of thousands of Americans, writes Richard Hall.
There is an element of truth there, but also some pretty bold exaggeration.
The Quds Force, which Soleimani led, is thought to have been responsible for the deaths of around 600 US soldiers during the Iraq War, mostly through the use of lethal roadside bombs it manufactured and flooded the country with. It also backed a number of Shia militias to fight against the US throughout the war.
It’s unclear who are the “millions” of dead Trump is referring to. But many credit Soleimani as being a major driving force behind the Syrian government’s violent crackdown on the uprising against Bashar al-Assad – a conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands.
Trump also mentions the killing of protesters in Iraq. Iran-backed militias are thought to have been responsible for a violent crackdown on anti-government protests in Iraq. Hundreds are thought to have been killed by militia fighters since the protests began.
The world "cannot afford another war in the Gulf", UN secretary general Antonio Guterres has said, while calling for maximum restraint on all sides.
Donald Trump says that Iran general Qassem Soleimani was "caught" as he was "plotting to kill" many Americans, after years of anti-US military actions that have left thousands "killed or badly wounded", writes Clark Mindock.
The president ordered the air strike on Soleimani, the leader of the elite Quds Force, on Friday morning, raising concerns of unrest and destabilisation in the region as US-Iran have reached a decades-low state.
Trump claims Soleimani 'got caught' plotting to kill more Americans in furious tweets about Iran
Donald Trump says that Iran general Qassem Soleimani was "caught" as he was "plotting to kill" many Americans, after years of anti-US military actions that have left thousands "killed or badly wounded".Here's what Mike Pompeo has had to say about the reasons behind the deadly airstrike.
On CNN:
- "He was actively plotting in the region to take actions - a big action as he described it - that would have put dozens if not hundreds of American lives at risk. We know it was imminent."
- "These were threats that were located in the region. Last night was the time that we needed to strike to make sure that this imminent attack ... was disrupted."
On Fox News:
- "What was sitting before us was his travels throughout the region, his efforts to make a significant strike against Americans. There would have been many Muslims killed as well, Iraqis and people in other countries."
Mike Pompeo claims Soleimani strike was in response to 'imminent threat’, but provides no detail
Royal Jordanian Airlines has suspended flights into Baghdad due to the security situation there, it said in a statement.
Rand Paul, the libertarian Republican senator, has quoted the US statesman Henry Clay in an apparent warning against a unilateral move towards war with Iran by Donald Trump.
Clay, who lived in the 18th and 19th centuries, argued forcefully at the time of the Mexican-American war that only Congress had the power to declare war and define its objectives.
Citizens should "know for what end their blood is to be farther shed, and their treasures farther expended, instead of the knowledge of it being locked up and concealed in the bosom of one man", he said in 1847.
Mr Paul tweeted that Mr Trump knows that toppling senior figures in the Middle East can lead to power vacuums, and asked whether Qassem Soleimeni's death will "endanger the lives of every American soldier or diplomat" in the region.
He added: "If we are to go to war w/ Iran the Constitution dictates that we declare war. A war without a Congressional declaration is a recipe for feckless intermittent eruptions of violence w/ no clear mission for our soldiers. Our young men and women in the armed services deserve better."
Who was powerful Iranian general Qassem Soleimani?
Is this war by accident or war by design? We’ve all said that a major war in the Middle East could start by accident. But no-one thought Donald Trump would go for the jugular quite like this. To kill General Qassem Soleimani is a sword at the heart of Iran, without doubt. And on whose behalf? writes Robert Fisk.
Trump boasts of his relationship with the Saudi king who has talked of “cutting off the head of the Iranian snake” and whose oil facilities were attacked with drone-fired missiles – which the US blamed on Iran – last year. Or Israel? Or is this just another decision with incalculable results, taken by a crackpot president in the US?
Just imagine what would happen if a leading American general – or two, since Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis was a leading pro-Iranian figure in Iraq – was blown up on a tour of the Middle East. There would be airstrikes, attacks on Iran’s nuclear centres, threats by Washington to close down all traffic between Iran and the outside world. The death of an American in Baghdad on Friday and the riots outside the US embassy, while sad, scarcely justify American attacks on this scale.
Trump is starting a war with Iran – whether it is by accident or design | Robert Fisk
Tehran will likely take time to consider its options, with few having expected the US president to go for the jugular like thisDonald Trump has said Soleimani was plotting to kill many more Americans and was responsible for the deaths of a large number of protesters in Iran before he was killed in a US airstrike.
Egypt's Foreign Ministry has said it is following developments in Iraq with great concern and has called on world powers to avoid further escalation.
Meanwhile, Turkey's Foreign Ministry said the US air strike which killed Soleimani will increase insecurity and instability in the region.
