President Trump defended his decision to kill Qassem Soleimani, whether the threat the top Iranian commander posed was imminent or not amid his administration’s shifting explanations for the attack.
In a tweet Monday morning, Trump accused the media and Democrats of “working hard” to prove whether or not a future attack by Soleimani was imminent and whether his administration was in agreement about the strike.
“The answer to both is a strong YES, but it doesn’t really matter because of his horrible past!” Trump said to those critical of his administration’s rationale for the strike.
The Fake News Media and their Democrat Partners are working hard to determine whether or not the future attack by terrorist Soleimani was “imminent” or not, & was my team in agreement. The answer to both is a strong YES., but it doesn’t really matter because of his horrible past!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 13, 2020
Trump administration officials have said Soleimani’s killing was a defensive measure to prevent imminent attacks that would have threatened American lives. Officials have been vague about how soon an Iranian attack against the United States was planned.
“Days, weeks,” Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters on Jan. 5.
Last week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told Fox News “a series of imminent attacks” were being plotted by Soleimani. But he said the U.S. didn’t “know precisely when and we don’t know precisely where.”
That same day, Trump said the Iranians were plotting to blow up the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. The president said a day later, he thought the Iranians would target four embassies, though he did not specify which ones other than the Baghdad facility.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper appeared to contradict Trump on Sunday, telling CBS’s Face the Nation that he never saw evidence that Iran was planning an attack on four American embassies. Esper noted that an attack on the embassies was possible, given they are “the most prominent display of American presence in a country.”
NBC News reported Monday that Trump authorized the killing of Soleimani seven months ago, under the condition that he would have final sign-off on the operation to kill him.
