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Pentagon launched airstrike that killed Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani, Defense Sec. Mark Esper says Pentagon launched airstrike that killed Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani, Defense Secretary Mark Esper says
(about 1 hour later)
BREAKING: Pentagon launched airstrike that killed Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani, Defense Sec. Mark Esper says. BAGHDAD — A U.S. airstrike killed Iranian Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad on Thursday, the Pentagon said, a dramatic escalation of tensions between the two countries that could lead to widespread violence in the region and beyond.
Esper said Thursday night that Soleimani was "actively developing plans" to attack US troops and diplomats.The killing of a senior figure linked to Tehran’s support for foreign proxy groups is certain to heighten tensions between the United States and Iran. This breaking story will be updated. Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper said the Pentagon had taken “decisive defensive action” against Soleimani, the revered military figure who had close links to a network of armed groups backed by Iran across the Middle East and, according to the United States, bore responsibility for hundreds of American deaths.
An airstrike near the Baghdad airport has killed Iranian Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani and another senior Iranian-linked figure in Baghdad, Iraqi state television reported Thursday. “Gen. Soleimani was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region,” Esper said in a statement. “This strike was aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans.”
No one immediately asserted responsibility for the strike, which Iraqi television said also killed Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, an Iraqi militia commander. But the death of Iran’s most revered military leader appeared likely to send tensions soaring between the United States and Iran. Earlier, Iraqi militia officials and the country’s state TV channel announced that Soleimani had been killed in an airstrike alongside a top Iraqi militia leader just outside the country’s main airport. The Iraqi, Jamal Jaafar Ibrahimi, who is better known by his nom de guerre, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, is closely associated with attacks against the United States dating to 1982.
Soleimani, who is closely linked to Iran’s foreign proxy groups, has taken on an enhanced role in Iraq as the country’s Shiite militias have gained new clout in recent years. A video circulated by Shiite militia groups showed, accompanied by the sound of wailing, the crumpled wreckage of the vehicle in which Soleimani purportedly was traveling. A photograph claimed to show his bloodied, ash-covered hand wearing the same blood-red ring seen in earlier photos of him alive.
Pentagon officials declined to comment on the airstrike. A U.S. official, who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the record, said the attack was conducted by a U.S. drone and struck a two-car convoy carrying Soleimani and others on an access road near Baghdad International Airport. At least half a dozen people were believed to have been killed.
The attack comes amid already increased friction between Washington and Iran over what U.S. officials say is a campaign of sustained aggression against the United States and its allies. Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif called the attack an “act of international terrorism” and, in a message on Twitter, said the United States “bears responsibility for all consequences of its rogue adventurism.” The Iraqi government did not make an immediate comment about the attack.
Earlier Thursday, Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper said Iran and its proxies may be preparing renewed strikes on U.S. personnel in Iraq, even as the Trump administration increases the number of troops in the region. Senior officials with the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), as the Iraqi militia groups are known, lamented the deaths in messages circulating on WhatsApp. “May God reward you for the loss of the brave leaders, Hajj Soleimani and Hajj Muhandis. May God accept them as martyrs in his vast mercy,” wrote Ahmed al-Assadi, the chief spokesman of the Popular Mobilization Forces, many of which are seen as being funded and directed by Iran.
“There are some indications out there that they may be planning additional attacks,” Esper said at the Pentagon, a day after members of an Iranian-linked militia, Kataib Hezbollah, withdrew from the area around the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad following their assault on the diplomatic facility. Despite a long period of increasing tension between Iran and the Trump administration, which has vowed a tougher stance on Tehran’s support for proxy groups, the attack against an incomparable figure in Iran’s security establishment came as a surprise to many analysts, in part because it was seen as likely to ignite a significant Iranian response.
“So do I think they may do something?” he said. “Yes, and they will likely regret it.” Ilan Goldenberg, who worked on Middle East issues during the Obama administration, characterized the move as a “massive game changer” in the region.
The attempted siege — in which militiamen threw molotov cocktails, stormed into a reception area and then established a camp outside the sprawling American compound — marked the most intense flare-up in U.S.-Iran tensions in Iraq since the end of the Iraq War in 2011. “Iran will seek revenge. It may escalate in Iraq, Lebanon, the gulf or elsewhere. It may attempt to target senior U.S. officials,” said Goldenberg, now a scholar with the Center for a New American Security. “Unfortunately, I highly doubt the Trump administration has thought out the next step or knows what to do now to avoid a regional war.”
The incident has strained relations with the Baghdad government, which has sought to maintain stable ties with both its chief Western backer, the United States, and its powerful neighbor, Iran, and the violence posed a new test of the Trump administration’s hawkish policy against Tehran. Qassem Soleimani: Who was Iran’s powerful military leader?
After the airstrike that Iraqi state TV said killed Soleimani, there were reports of gunfire erupting near the airport at the time of the strike, and the Iraqi army command said three ­Katyusha rockets, which typically are fired by Iranian-backed militias, exploded nearby. The attack, which Esper said was authorized by President Trump, raises fresh questions about the president’s approach to the Middle East. While Trump has employed bellicose rhetoric and authorized several strikes against the Syrian government, an ally of Tehran, he has repeatedly voiced his desire to get the United States out of costly wars in the Middle East.
Kataib Hezbollah’s targeting of the embassy followed U.S. strikes over the weekend on militia facilities in Iraq and Syria. Officials said they came in response to repeated rocket and artillery attacks on U.S. facilities, including one recent incident that killed an American contractor in Iraq. At least 25 militia members were killed in the retaliatory strikes. The attack appeared intended to cripple a force that has been the vanguard of Iran’s decades-long effort to shape events in the region in its favor. Soleimani, who rose from poverty in southeast Iran, joined the Revolutionary Guard Corps as a young man, and later took control of the Quds Force, its external wing, in the late 1990s.
Tensions between the United States and Iran have been building. The Trump administration withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018 and has since imposed new sanctions that have devastated the Iranian economy. In June, President Trump authorized and then called off airstrikes in Iran following Tehran’s downing of an American surveillance drone. Under his command, the force expanded its support for armed groups across the region, including in Iraq, where U.S. officials blamed Iran-backed militias for killing at least 500 American troops following the 2003 U.S. invasion. The force was also named in a 2011 plot to assassinate a diplomat at a Washington restaurant. In recent years Soleimani was regularly seen making visits to affiliated militias in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere, demonstrating not just his military influence but significant diplomatic clout.
Who was Iran’s powerful military leader Qaseem Soleimani? The strike appears to have been set in motion by a Dec. 27 rocket attack that killed a U.S. contractor on a base in the Iraqi city of Kirkuk, an assault the Pentagon blamed on Kataib Hezbollah, an Iraqi militia closely associated with Iran. After the attack, President Trump authorized airstrikes on militia targets in Iraq and Syria, which in turn prompted militiamen to attempt a breach of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.
“The game has changed,” Esper said. “And we’re prepared to do what is necessary to defend our personnel and our interests and our partners in the region.” While the episode was defused by Thursday, it laid bare the combustible state of U.S.-Iran ties and the potential vulnerability of American personnel in the region.
He said that could include military action to preempt militia attacks if U.S. officials learn about them ahead of time. Speaking to reporters earlier in the day, Esper said the Pentagon was ready to take military action to preempt militia attacks. “The game has changed,” he said. “And we’re prepared to do what is necessary to defend our personnel and our interests and our partners in the region.”
Speaking alongside Esper, Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the embassy compound, which contains hardened offices and residences and occupies more than 100 acres in Baghdad’s international zone, remained secure. A U.S. official said discussion of the strike began after the contractor’s death. On Wednesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo abruptly canceled a planned trip to Eastern Europe, citing the need to stay in Washington “to continue monitoring the ongoing situation in Iraq and ensure the safety and security of Americans in the Middle East.”
Pompeo wanted to be near Trump to advise him on the ongoing situation, said a senior U.S. official familiar with the matter, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters.
It’s not clear what action the Trump administration will take to protect U.S. diplomats and military personnel from what analysts said was likely Iranian retaliation for the attack.
Officials said they were taking steps to defend Americans. “We’re well aware of the possibility of an Iranian response,” one official said.
Already in the past week, the administration has deployed 750 troops from a special quick-action battalion from the 82nd Airborne Division to Kuwait, a staging ground for forces going into Iraq. About 100 Marines were sent into Baghdad to protect the embassy after the militia siege.
About 5,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Iraq as part of efforts to combat the remnants of the Islamic State and support Iraqi security forces. While the number of diplomats there is far fewer than it has been in past years, hundreds of embassy personnel were forced to shelter in safe rooms during this week’ militia siege.
In Baghdad, according to officials familiar with the situation, diplomats at the sprawling U.S. Embassy began packing bags in the event of a potential evacuation order.
An official at Iraq’s elite counterterrorism force said it had been ordered to close all entrances to the Green Zone in Baghdad that houses major government ministries and foreign embassies and to deploy inside it.
Earlier on Thursday, Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the embassy compound, which contains hardened offices and residences and occupies more than 100 acres in Baghdad’s international zone, remained secure.
“There is sufficient combat power there, air and ground, that anyone who attempts to overrun that will run into a buzz saw,” Milley said.“There is sufficient combat power there, air and ground, that anyone who attempts to overrun that will run into a buzz saw,” Milley said.
In response to the attack on the embassy, the administration has deployed 750 troops from a special quick-action battalion from the 82nd Airborne Division to Kuwait, a staging ground for forces going into Iraq. About 100 Marines were sent into Baghdad to protect the embassy. The strike caps more than a year of building tension between the United States and Iran. In 2018, the Trump administration withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, and has since imposed new sanctions that have devastated the Iranian economy. In June, Trump authorized and then called off airstrikes in Iran after Tehran’s downing of an American surveillance drone.
Milley said the increase in forces in Kuwait was needed in part to compensate for the Marine deployment and ensure readiness to respond to other possible incidents in the region. Friday’s airstrike is likely to further strain U.S. relations with the Iraqi government, which includes senior officials seen as having strong allegiances to Tehran and which has been pulled between its chief Western ally and its powerful neighbor to the east.
About 5,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Iraq as part of efforts to combat the remnants of the Islamic State and support Iraqi security forces. While the number of diplomats there is far fewer than it has been in past years, hundreds of embassy personnel were forced to shelter in safe rooms during the militia siege. The Iraqi government has been in crisis for months amid massive popular protests focused on widespread corruption and, to a lesser extent, Iranian influence in Iraq. The mass mobilizations prompted Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi to resign late last year, though he remains in office in a caretaker capacity.
Milley also appeared to question whether the Iraqi government, which includes senior officials seen as having strong allegiances to Tehran, intended to take action to check militia groups. Oil prices jumped on Asian markets, which were open when reports of the attack surfaced. U.S. crude oil rose about 1.2 percent initially, while Brent crude, more commonly used around the world, rose 1.3 percent. Oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange spiked even higher, with U.S. oil prices jumping as much as 4 percent for a February delivery.
Last year, Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi issued an order aimed at strengthening government control over militia units, which have gained new military and political clout since 2014 because of their instrumental role in battling the Islamic State. Sly reported from Beirut. Ryan and Hudson reported from Washington. Dan Lamothe, Shane Harris and Carol Morello contributed to this report from Washington.
“They have the capability,” Milley said. “It’s a question of political will, and that’s not for us to decide. That’s for the internal political dynamics of Iraq.”
The Iraqi government has been in crisis for months amid massive popular protests focused on widespread corruption and, to a lesser extent, Iranian influence in Iraq. The mass mobilizations prompted Abdul Mahdi to resign late last year, though he remains in office in a caretaker capacity.
It is unclear in the wake of the U.S. strikes and the embassy episode whether some Iraqi politicians’ calls for a full American withdrawal will gain momentum.
Speaking in a subsequent Fox News interview, Esper suggested a potential shift in U.S. strategy in Iraq, saying the Islamic State’s self-declared caliphate “remains physically defeated, if you will,” and now the administration’s “aim is to deter further Iranian bad behavior that has been going on now for over 40 years.”
Asked whether Iranian leaders needed a “punch in the nose” that goes beyond sanctions and tough rhetoric, Esper declined to answer directly. The Trump administration has already sent thousands of troops and additional assets to the Middle East, including missile defense systems, in response to the perceived Iranian threat.
Esper said Iran must end its nuclear and long-range missile programs, stop taking hostages and move away from “malign behavior where they are inspiring terrorist groups, and resourcing and directing them all the way from Africa across the Middle East and into Afghanistan.”
Col. Myles Caggins, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State, said the embassy episode had not damaged efforts to target the once-powerful militant group, which no longer holds territory but continues to conduct insurgent attacks.
“Although they are a dangerous distraction, recent attacks from Kataib Hezbollah militias have not deterred us from partnering with local security forces for training missions and outside-the-wire operations to catch ISIS members,” he said in an email, using an acronym for the Islamic State.
Carol Morello and Liz Sly contributed to this report.