President Trump targeted Iranian General Soleimani "to stop a war"

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – President Donald Trump spoke to the press on Friday about yesterday's targeted drone strike which killed Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Qasem Soleimani, calling it a "flawless precision strike that killed the number one terrorist anywhere in the world."

While Soleimani was Iran's top military commander, considered by many to be the second most powerful figure in the Iranian government after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khomenei, the IRGC was designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the United States government in April of 2019. 

The president then articulated both his rationale for authorizing the attack and his policy towards Iran moving forward. He stated:

"Under my leadership, America's policy is unambiguous to terrorists who harm or intend to harm any American: We will find you, we will eliminate you, we will always protect our diplomats, service members, all Americans and all our allies."

Shortly after Trump spoke to the press in Florida, the Times of Israel reported that the Israeli government, the United States'strongest ally in the Middle East, was aware of the plan to target Soleimani before the mission was executed. 

The strike, which killed Soleimani along with several Iraqi militia members as they drove past the Baghdad International Airport, was authorized without US congressional approval and without notifying the Iraqi government. It was perceived by many Iranian, Iraqi and American leaders to be a dangerous escalation of tensions.

As many of Trump's critics in the American Democratic party and across the world pointed to the strike as a dangerous provocation of Iran and its formidable network of proxy forces, Trump stated:

"We took action last night to stop a war. We did not take action to start a war. I have deep respect for the Iranian people...We do not seek regime change. However, the regime's aggression in the region, including the use of proxy fighters to destabilize its neighbors, must end and it must end now."

The Popular Mobilisation Forces, known to Westerners as the PMF and to Iraqis as Hashd al-Shaabi, are a collection of 40 brigades of Iraqi militias, dominated by men of the Shiite Muslim faith and originally formed to combat the Islamic State (ISIS). Many of these forces have strong ties to Iran and are perceived by the American government to operate as Iranian proxy forces.

One of these forces, a brigade called Kataib Hezbollah with a history of targeting American military installations in Iraq, was targeted on Wednesday by American airstrikes. Members of Kataib Hezbollah retaliated by storming and torching part of the American Embassy in Baghdad on new Year's Eve. 

Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the Deputy Commander of the Iraqi PMF Brigades, was one of the militia members killed in the drone strike which targeted Soleimani.

Trump concluded his speech by making a distinction between the Iranian people and their leadership. After praising the Iranian heritage and culture, he said, "The future belongs to the people of Iran - those who seek peaceful coexistence and cooperation." 

Seemingly speaking to both the domestic audience of his base of increasingly nationalist, pro-military supporters and to the international audience of the Iranian government and its allies, Trump then issued a dire threat.

"The US has the best military by far anywhere in the world, we have the best intelligence in the world. If Americans anywhere are threatened we have all of those targets already fully identified and I am ready and prepared to take whatever action is necessary and that in particular refers to Iran."

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