One of Iran’s most powerful generals was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad, the Pentagon confirmed Thursday, a development that is sure to send shock waves throughout the Middle East and prompt retaliation from Iran.
“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 head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization," the Pentagon said in a statement.
"This strike was aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans," the Pentagon added. "The United States will continue to take all necessary action to protect our people and our interests wherever they are around the world."
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President Trump

Iran hawks in the United States cheered Soleimani’s death.
“The defensive actions the U.S. has taken against #Iran & its proxies are consistent with clear warnings they have received,” Sen. Marco Rubio

Rep. Mark Meadows

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The U.S. military struck an Iranian-backed militia in Iraq on Sunday after a rocket attack Friday that the Trump administration blamed on the militia killed a U.S. contractor and wounded four U.S. troops.
The militia and its supporters responded by storming the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday, prompting the U.S. military to deploy 100 Marines as reinforcements at the embassy and 750 more troops to the region.
The situation appeared calmer earlier Thursday after the demonstrators withdrew from the embassy compound the day before.
But Defense Secretary Mark Esper

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“He had orchestrated attacks on coalition bases in Iraq over the last several months — including the attack on December 27th — culminating in the death and wounding of additional American and Iraqi personnel," the Pentagon said. "General Soleimani also approved the attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad that took place this week."
But as news spread of Soleimani’s death, critics questioned whether Trump, who has claimed to want to end so-called forever wars in the Middle East, was prepared to handle the ramifications that could come.
“Soleimani was an enemy of the United States. That’s not a question,” Sen. Chris Murphy
