Trump government accused of citing false ‘imminent threat’ for killing Iranian general

The Trump administration has cited previous attacks by Iran and Iran-backed forces in a note to the US congress justifying the killing of Qassem Soleimani, a top Iranian general, in a drone strike in January, and not “imminent” attacks as it had then claimed.

President Donald Trump directed the “attack in response to an escalating series of attacks in preceding months by Iran and Iran-backed militias on United States forces and interests in the West Asia region” said the short two-page memo.

Soleimani’s killing had triggered fears of a war with Iran vowing revenge, which it claimed to have extracted by firing missiles at two Iraqi military bases that also house American military personnel. No one was killed.

But neither side wanted a war and quickly de-escalated.

The Trump administration’s justification for the killing came under close scrutiny since the claim of “imminent” threat to American forces and assets--including four embassies-- was not backed with evidence. And officials had subsequently begun reeling back that narrative.

“This official report directly contradicts the President’s false assertion that he attacked Iran to prevent an imminent attack against the United States personnel and embassies,” Eliot Engel, chairman of the Democratic-led House Foreign Affairs Committee said in a statement.

“The administration’s explanation in this report makes no mention of any imminent threat and shows that the justification the President offered to the American people was false, plain and simple,” the statement said.