President Donald Trump has finally opened up on why he ordered the killing of high-ranking Iranian General, Qassem Soleimani, saying “Iran never won a war, but never lost a negotiation!”
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports Trump opened up in a statement on Friday, saying the Iranian General has killed many Americans and was plotting to kill more.
“General Qassem Soleimani has killed or badly wounded thousands of Americans over an extended period of time, and was plotting to kill many more…but got caught!
“He was directly and indirectly responsible for the death of millions of people, including the recent large number of PROTESTERS killed in Iran itself.
“While Iran will never be able to properly admit it, Soleimani was both hated and feared within the country. They are not nearly as saddened as the leaders will let the outside world believe. He should have been taken out many years ago!” Trump stated.
He went further to State that “The United States has paid Iraq Billions of Dollars a year, for many years. That is on top of all else we have done for them. The people of Iraq don’t want to be dominated & controlled by Iran, but ultimately, that is their choice. Over the last 15 years, Iran has gained more and more control over Iraq, and the people of Iraq are not happy with that. It will never end well!”
However, the action of the President has not gone down well with U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who condemned the deadly U.S. airstrike on the powerful Iranian general, calling it a “provocative and disproportionate” act.
“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 senior Democrat said in a statement.
She said Congress was not consulted before President Donald Trump ordered the attack on the Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, and demanded that lawmakers be “immediately briefed” on the situation.
Iraq’s powerful Shiite Hashd Shaabi militia said on Friday that the group’s deputy leader, Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes, and high-ranking Iranian General Qassem Soleimani have been killed in an attack near Baghdad airport.
The Iran-backed Hashd Shaabi, also known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), said they were killed in a U.S. strike targeting their vehicle on the Baghdad International Airport road.
Soleimani is the Commander of Iran’s Quds Force, a unit in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRCG).
Their deaths are the latest escalation in tensions between the U.S. and Iran, coming after thousands of supporters of the Shiite militia broke into the U.S. embassy compound in central Baghdad on Tuesday.
Protesters set fire to one of the gates of walls around the embassy buildings and camped outside until the next day.
The two days of protests were triggered by U.S. strikes in Iraq and Syria on Sunday that targeted the Kataib Hezbollah militia group.
The U.S. airstrikes killed at least 25 militiamen.
Kataib Hezbollah, a part of the Hashd Shaabi umbrella group, had been blamed for an attack last week that killed a US citizen.
Loud explosions were heard near the airport early Friday, which Iraqi security said was three Katyusha rockets falling down in the vicinity killing several people and leaving two vehicles burnt.
Shortly after, the militia said five of its members were killed in the attack, including Mohammed Reda al-Jaberi, who was the group’s head of the public relations and protocol officer.
The U.S. killed Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in a “defensive action,” the Pentagon says.
“At the direction of the President, the U.S. military has taken decisive defensive action to protect U.S. personnel abroad by killing Qassem Soleimani,” the Pentagon statement says.
The Pentagon says Soleimani was “actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region.”
“General Soleimani also approved the attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad that took place this week,” the statement continues.
The U.S. also held Soleimani and his Quds Force responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members and said he “orchestrated” a rocket attack on Dec. 27, which killed an American.
Meanwhile, the State Department has told U.S. citizens to leave Iraq as soon as possible.
“Due to heightened tensions in Iraq and the region, we urge U.S. citizens to depart Iraq immediately,” it says in a security alert, following a U.S. strike that killed a top Iranian general in Baghdad.
“U.S. citizens should depart via airline while possible, and failing that, to other countries via land.”
Consular operations at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad were suspended earlier this week following attacks on the building by supporters of an Iranian-backed militia.
Similarly, US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo had said Washington was committed to “de-escalation” after a U.S. air strike in Baghdad killed Qassem Soleimani, the architect of Iran’s growing military influence in the Middle East.
Pompeo said on Twitter on Friday that he spoke to British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab and China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi about the U.S. decision to eliminate Soleimani, who commanded Iran’s elite Quds Force.
“Thankful that our allies recognise the continuing aggressive threats posed by the Iranian Quds Force.
“The U.S. remains committed to de-escalation,” the U.S. announced earlier that it had killed the commander of the Islamic republic’s Quds Force in a strike on Baghdad’s international airport.
The strike also killed the deputy chief of Iraq’s powerful Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary force.
Pro-Iranian demonstrators laid siege to the U.S. embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday, angered by U.S. weekend air strikes that killed two dozen fighters from the hardline Kataeb Hezbollah paramilitary group.
The strikes were in response to a rocket attack last week that killed an American contractor working in Iraq.
The Pentagon said Soleimani had orchestrated attacks on coalition bases in Iraq over the past few months, including on Dec. 27, the day the contractor was killed.
Soleimani also approved the attacks on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, according to the Pentagon.
Earlier, the U.S. Department of Defence on Thursday said that U.S. forces had carried out a strike that killed Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
“At the direction of the President (Donald Trump), the U.S. military has taken decisive defensive action to protect U.S. personnel abroad by killing Soleimani.
“This strike was aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans,” said the Pentagon in a statement.
Iraqi State TV reported earlier that an attack near Baghdad International Airport in the Iraqi capital on Friday killed Soleimani along with Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy chief of Iraq’s paramilitary Hashd al-Shaabi forces.
The Pentagon claimed in the statement that Soleimani had “approved” the attacks on the U.S. embassy and “had orchestrated attacks on coalition bases in Iraq over the last several months.”
Iran has denied involvement in the recent deadly attacks on the U.S. forces in Iraq.
Hours ahead of the U.S. strike, Pentagon chief Mark Esper said in a statement that “attacks against us will be met with responses in the time, manner, and place of our choosing.”
Trump’s decision has invited fierce response among U.S. lawmakers, who mostly expressed their opinion along party lines.
“Soleimani masterminded Iran’s reign of terror for decades. America is safer now after Soleimani’s demise,” said Republican Sen. Tom Cotton in a statement.
Tom Udall, a Democratic Senator from the State of New Mexico, described the move as “a reckless escalation of hostilities,” which could put “U.S. forces and citizens in danger and very possibly sinking us into another disastrous war in the Middle East.”
“President Trump is bringing our nation to the brink of an illegal war with Iran without any congressional approval as required under the Constitution of the U.S.,” Udall added in a statement.
After its unilateral exit in 2018 from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, Washington has been mounting pressure on Tehran through a series of sanctions to seek re-negotiations.
Iran has maintained a tough stance and scaled back its nuclear commitments in response.
Similarly, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday said that the U.S. had the right to defend itself by killing senior Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani.
“Just as Israel has the right of self-defence, the U.S. has exactly the same right.
“Soleimani is responsible for the death of American citizens and many other innocent people. He was planning more such attacks,” Netanyahu said in a statement issued by his office.
Netanyahu spoke on the airport tarmac in Greece after cutting short a trip abroad to fly back to Israel.
“President Trump deserves all the credit for acting swiftly, forcefully and decisively.
“Israel stands with the U.S. in its just struggle for peace, security and self-defence,” he added.
Following the development, Iran’s supreme leader appointed assassinated commander Qassem Soleimani’s deputy, Brig.-Gen. Esmail Ghaani, to replace him as head of the country’s Quds Forces, Iranian media reported.
The force’s programme “will be unchanged from the time of his predecessor,” Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a statement published by state media.
Soleimani, and architect of Iran’s spreading military influence in the Middle East, was killed near Baghdad airport on Friday.
Iraqi caretaker Prime Minister Adel Abdel-Mahdi condemns the U.S. attack in Baghdad, calling it an “aggression’’ on Iraq and a “dangerous escalation.”
Abdel-Mahdi pays tribute to Abu Mahdi Al-Mohandes, the deputy head of Iraq’s powerful pro-state Hashd Shaabi militia, and Soleimani, saying they were “symbols” of Iraq’s victory over Islamic State militants.
“The assassination of an Iraqi military commander is an aggression on Iraq as a state, government, and people,” Abdel-al-Mahdi says in a statement.
“Carrying out physical liquidation operations against leading Iraqi figures or from a brotherly country on the Iraqi lands is a flagrant violation of Iraq’s sovereignty and a dangerous escalation that triggers a destructive war in Iraq, the region and the world,” he adds.
Also, Britain has increased its security and readiness at military bases in the Middle East after the U.S. killed Iranian Maj.-Gen. Soleimani, Sky News reported on Friday without citing sources.
Britain has about 400 military personnel in Iraq, who help provide training in the country. They are mostly located at the Taji base, north of Baghdad.
“The safety and security of our personnel are of paramount importance and we keep our force protection measures under constant review.
“We do not comment on specific force protection measures,” a spokesman from Britain’s Ministry of Defence said when asked about the report.
Dozens of U.S. citizens working for foreign oil companies in the Iraqi oil city of Basra were preparing to leave the country on Friday, company sources said.
The U.S. embassy in Baghdad urged all citizens to depart Iraq immediately, hours after the U.S. killed Soleimani and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in an air strike.
The evacuation will not affect operations, production or exports, Iraqi oil officials said.
United Arab Emirates Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said that wisdom and political solutions must prevail over confrontation and escalation, in comments published on Twitter after a U.S. airstrike killed a top Iranian general.
British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab urged all parties to de-escalate after the U.S. killed Soleimani.
“We have always recognised the aggressive threat posed by the Iranian Quds force led by Qasem Soleimani.
Following his death, we urge all parties to de-escalate. Further conflict is in none of our interests,” he said in an emailed statement.