“According to press reports, Iran may be planning an assassination, or other attack, against the United States in retaliation for the killing of terrorist leader Soleimani, which was carried out for his planning a future attack, murdering US Troops, and the death & suffering caused over so many years,” President Trump wrote in a tweet late on Monday night.
The comment comes less than 24 hours after a story in Politico alleged the Islamic Republic has been “weighing” a reprisal for the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, formerly the commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force, who was killed near the Baghdad International Airport by a US drone strike in January. The Politico piece was sourced to nameless US government officials, however, and Tehran has since rejected the claim, with Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh calling on Washington to “stop resorting to hackneyed and worn-out methods for anti-Iran propaganda in the international arena.”
Slamming the Trump administration as a “rogue regime” that had carried out “tens of plots for assassination,” Katibzadeh insisted Tehran, in contrast, had always acted as a “responsible member of the international community.”
Iran has repeatedly denounced the US kill strike on Soleimani earlier this year, which also left an Iraqi militia commander dead, deeming it an act of terrorism and launching rocket strikes on two Iraqi bases that hosted American troops – the country’s most direct response to date. The counter-attack resulted in no deaths, though it did wound over 100 US troops, who were later diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries.
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