Trump Details Soleimani Assassination and Israel's Role

Former U.S. President Donald Trump provided new information regarding the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which took place on January 3, 2020, in Baghdad, Iraq.

In an interview with Axios, Trump described the operation, stating, "I destroyed their general. Soleimani was the godfather of roadside bombs. When you see soldiers walking without legs, without arms, with disfigured and blurred faces, 96.2% of that came from Iran. It came from Soleimani. It was his favorite weapon. And I killed him. He had killed thousands of soldiers and thousands of others, tens of thousands of people. I told the story on that day for the first time. Israel was not supposed to do it. Israel pulled back at the last moment when I killed him. It was supposed to be done with Israel. It was a joint operation. We worked on it for 30 days. He only travels on commercial airlines with many people because he knows we won’t shoot down his plane. Military planes are a different matter."

Trump added, "He boarded the plane. Everything was going according to schedule. But one day before, Israel told us they would not carry out the attack. I understood that because it was not good for them. But I went to certain generals, not the fools like Milley and some of those men who were very stupid and decided to leave equipment behind. I don’t leave equipment behind. But I went to some good men. I asked them, ‘What do you think, guys?’ They said, ‘Well, we can do it without them, we don’t need them, sir.’ I asked, ‘Will it be of the same quality?’ They said, ‘The same quality or better.’ It was a flawless attack. Now, that was one of the biggest moments in Middle Eastern history because he was the most terrifying man in 100 years. Even Iran, even the Ayatollahs, even all of them feared Soleimani.”

Continuing his remarks to the host of The Axios Show, Trump said, "Did Obama do it? No. It was a big deal. And also, during that, they also killed the head of ISIS in Iraq. But if I hadn’t done it, maybe we wouldn’t be talking today about, you know, this decisive victory. Because he was a general, and he was a very evil man. He was a bad man, but he was smart. He was a very strong general. Do you know what he planned to do? He planned to blow up five of our military bases. I got him one week before that attack," according to Trump.

It is worth noting that on the morning of January 3, 2020, Soleimani was killed in a U.S. drone strike targeting his convoy near Baghdad International Airport in Iraq, under orders from then-President Donald Trump.

The attack also resulted in the death of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy head of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, along with several of their companions.