- President Donald Trump at a rally in Toledo, Ohio, Thursday claimed that the assassination of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani was an act of “American justice.”
- “Soleimani was actively planning new attacks and he was looking very seriously at our embassies, and not just the embassy in Baghdad, but we stopped him and we stopped him quickly and we stopped him cold,” Trump told the cheering crowd.
- In recent weeks, there has been a steep escalation of tensions between Iran and the US, with Iran responding to Soleimani’s death by firing a barrage of missiles at US personnel stationed in Iraq.
- Trump on Wednesday had sought to calm tensions, and said there would be no US military response to the Iran strike.
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The day after seeking to ratchet down tensions with Iran, President Donald Trump struck a different tone with supporters Thursday night, boasting of the US assassination of top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani.
At a rally in Toledo, Ohio, Thursday night Trump claimed that the drone strike against the leader of the elite Iranian al Quds force had saved American lives, amid criticism from lawmakers from both the Democrats and Republicans.
They say that the president has failed to provide an adequate briefing to Congress about why the strike was necessary.
“Last week the United States once again took the bold and decisive action to save American lives and deliver American justice,” he said, doubling down on claims Soleimani posed an imminent threat.
President Trump made the killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani a theme of his re-election campaign, drawing cheers from thousands at an Ohio rally when he said the death saved lives and delivered ‘American justice’ https://t.co/yw5YvLHwSH pic.twitter.com/juAlDUrfhh
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 10, 2020
"Soleimani was actively planning new attacks and he was looking very seriously at our embassies, and not just the embassy in Baghdad, but we stopped him and we stopped him quickly and we stopped him cold," Trump said.
In the speech, Trump taunted Democrats who have questioned his decision to assassinate Soleimani.
"He was a bad guy," Trump said of Soleimani. "He was a bloodthirsty terrorist, and he's no longer a terrorist. He's dead, and yet now I see ... the radical-left Democrats have expressed outrage over the termination of this horrible terrorist.
"And you know, instead they should be outraged by Soleimani's savage crimes and the fact that his countless victims were denied justice for so long."
Earlier, Vice President Mike Pence in an interview with Fox News had defended the administrations claims that Soleimani presented an "imminent threat," and said that intelligence that influenced the decision had been too sensitive to share with lawmakers.
The rally comes after more than a week of spiraling hostilities between the US and Iran, that saw Iran fire missiles targeting military bases in Iraq where US personnel were stationed.
On Wednesday, the US military said that the missile strikes resulted in no US casualties, and in a White House address Trump backed away from further military action and called for diplomacy to reduce their differences.
"The United States," Trump said, "is ready to embrace peace with all who seek it."