Trump says Soleimani was planning ‘sinister attacks’ on Americans

US President Donald Trump said, on December 3, that his administration took action against the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force General Qassem Soleimani to stop a war, not to start one. In a televised address from Mar-a-Lago, Florida, Trump announced that the US States military killed Soleimani in a “precision strike” at his direction.

“Soleimani was plotting imminent and sinister attacks on American diplomats and military personnel, but we caught him in the act and terminated him,” said the US President.

Read: Trump Says US 'terminated' Iranian General But Doesn't Seek Regime Change

Trump mentioned the recent attacks on US targets, which killed an American contractor, and on its embassy in Baghdad, and claimed that it was carried out at the direction of Soleimani. He said that Iran’s top commander made the death of innocent people his “sick passion, contributing to terrorist plots as far away as New Delhi and London”.

“Today we remember and honour the victims of Soleimani’s many atrocities, and we take comfort in knowing that his reign of terror is over,” he added.

On January 3, the United States announced that it killed Qasem Soleimani in a drone strike at Baghdad’s international airport. The two countries have been at loggerheads for a long time, but Washington’s withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran followed by crippling sanctions did no help to pacify the tension. 

Read: Trump Says Iranian Should Have Been ‘taken Out’ Years Ago

Further escalation expected

The recent rocket strikes killed several service members including an American contractor, to which the United States retaliated with airstrikes killing 25 fighters of the Iran-backed militia in Iraq, the Kataeb Hezbollah. It led to massive outrage among pro-Iran voices and protesters entered high-security US embassy in Baghdad and vandalised the building. US President Donald Trump reacted sharply to the incident and threatened Iran that they will pay a “big price”.

In Iran, there has been an outpouring of grief over the death of Soleimani, who was pivotal to Iran’s covert operations in the Middle East. Iran’s Supreme Leader vowed to exact “severe revenge for the criminals who bloodied their foul hands with his blood”. The escalation has led to a surge in fuel prices and experts suggested that the Middle East will be bracing tougher days ahead. 

Read: Israel PM Backs Trump Over Soleimani Killing, Says 'US Has The Right Of Self-defense'

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