NO CHOICE: Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley have mounted an aggressive defense of the Jan. 3 drone strike that killed Iranian Revolutionary Guard Quds force commander Gen. Qassem Soleimani, and are disputing criticism President Trump acted impulsively without fully considering the ramifications of the action.

“When we looked at this operation we knew there would be consequences. We knew there’d be risk. We knew that ahead of time. We didn’t take any of it lightly,” said Milley in an off-camera session with reporters at the Pentagon on Monday.