President Donald Trump on Thursday defended his decision to assassinate Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani, saying the Iranian general was reviled and feared in Iran and should have been eliminated many years ago
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd January, 2020) President Donald Trump on Thursday defended his decision to assassinate Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani, saying the Iranian general was reviled and feared in Iran and should have been eliminated many years ago.
"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 said via Twitter.
Trump also blamed Soleimani for the killing or wounding of "thousands of Americans" over the past few decades and accused the Iranian general of "plotting to kill many more."
Trump later doubled down on his reasoning for the airstrike in another Tweet, highlighting US efforts in Iraq and lamenting the increasing Iranian influence, which according to him the "people of Iraq are not happy with."
Trump's statements came as thousands of Iranians took to the streets across the country on Friday to mourn the death of Soleimani.
Mourners were shown on national television thronging mosques and subway stations. Many carried placards that denounced the United States and Israel.
Spontaneous rallies were held in Tehran and other cities. Demonstrators echoed threats of revenge that the Iranian president and spiritual leader had pledged in response to what they described as a US crime.
Tensions are high across the middle East after Soleimani, the commander of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' elite Quds Force, was killed in an airstrike on the outskirts of Baghdad that was authorized by Trump. The US Embassy in Baghdad on Friday called on American citizens to depart Iraq as soon as possible.
