conflict On 3 January 2020, Qasem Soleimani, an Iranian major general, was killed by an American drone strike ordered by U.S. President Donald Trump[3] near the Baghdad International Airport in Iraq, while travelling to meet Iraqi prime minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi.

"[7] The strike occurred during the 2019–2022 Persian Gulf crisis, which began after the U.S. withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran in 2018, reimposed sanctions, and accused Iranian elements of fomenting a campaign to harass U.S. forces in the region in 2019.

Retired CIA officer Marc Polymeropoulos told The New York Times that Soleimani, unlike other adversaries killed by the U.S., felt comfortable operating in the open and was not hard to find.

[49] In October 2007, the Bush administration was the first to designate Soleimani a terrorist on the basis of his involvement with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and Quds Force, and the increasing recognition of the role they played in the Iraq conflict.

[52] The second, and more serious designation by the Obama administration came in October 2011, after a plot was revealed in which four senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF) officers were planning to assassinate the Saudi Arabian Ambassador while in the United States, under the supervision of Soleimani.

[54] It was reported in 2015 that Israel was "on the verge" of assassinating Soleimani on Syrian soil; however, the U.S., during the Obama administration's negotiations for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, thwarted the operation by revealing it to the Iranian officials.

"[59] On 2 January 2020, The New York Times author Steven Simon wrote in a comment: "What if the former commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Qassim Suleimani, visits Baghdad for a meeting and you know the address?

[61] The new focus of strategy was to be an increase in targeted rocket attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq, with the intended effect of provoking an antagonistic U.S. military response that would divert political pressure from Iran.

[68] Furthermore, a senior U.S. official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity, said there had been a campaign of 11 attacks on Iraqi bases hosting OIR personnel in the two months before the 27 December incident, many of which the U.S. also attributed to Kata'ib Hezbollah.

[87] This followed a 27 December rocket attack by Kata'ib Hezbollah on an airbase in Kirkuk that killed an American civilian contractor and injured four U.S. service members and two Iraqi security forces personnel.

[98] In contrast to the Times' reporting, according to unidentified sources cited by The Washington Post on 4 January 2020, Trump wanted to kill Soleimani[a] to avoid the appearance of weakness amid the ongoing Persian Gulf crisis, since his decision to call off an airstrike against Iran in summer 2019 after the downing of a U.S. drone had led to what he perceived as negative media coverage.

[143] The remaining five casualties were Iraqi members of the PMF: deputy chairman Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, chief of protocol and public relations Muhammed Reza al-Jaberi,[144] Mohammad al-Shibani, Hassan Abdul Hadi and Heydar Ali.

[145] On the same day of the Baghdad airport strike, an IRGC financier and key commander, Abdulreza Shahlai,[g] was unsuccessfully targeted by U.S. drones in Yemen,[147] which killed Mohammad Mirza, a Quds Force operative, instead.

As stated by France 24, the targeted killing of Qasem Soleimani "caused alarm around the world, amid fears that Iranian retaliation against American interests in the region could spiral into a far larger conflict".

[189][190] Shortly after the confirmation of Soleimani's death, U.S. spy agencies reportedly detected that Iran's ballistic missile regiments were at a heightened readiness but it was unclear at the time if they were defensive, cautionary measures or an indication of a future attack on U.S.

[201] On 8 January Saudi Arabia's Deputy Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman said the Kingdom would stand with Iraq and do everything in its power to spare it from the "danger of war and conflict between external parties".

[209] On 2 January 2022, the second anniversary of Soleimani's assassination, The Jerusalem Post's website was hacked, displaying an illustration threatening Israel's Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center.

[242] On 3 January 2021, the one year anniversary of the killings of Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, thousands of Iraqis demanded American forces pull out of the country in protests in Liberation Square, Baghdad.

[249] At the same time, she wrote in the letter that the US stood "ready to engage without preconditions in serious negotiations with Iran, with the goal of preventing further endangerment of international peace and security or escalation by the Iranian regime.

"[256] Johnson later said "... the strict issue of legality is not for the UK to determine since it was not our operation", in response to Leader of the Opposition Jeremy Corbyn who called it an "illegal act" and asked for the government to condemn it.

"[274] Some members of Congress, which generally was not consulted or briefed before the Soleimani strike, sought to restrict the president's ability to conduct future military operations against Iran without congressional consent.

[308] American foreign policy critic Noam Chomsky called the assassination "an extraordinarily dangerous act," saying it was "as if Iran had decided to murder Mike Pompeo and a major general along with him at the Mexico City International Airport.

[328] In August 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice charged an Iranian operative Shahram Poursafi with "plotting to assassinate former President Donald Trump's national security advisor John Bolton.

[337] On March 5, 2024, the Federal Bureau of Investigation through its Miami, Florida field office issued a public alert on a 41-year-old Iranian national and intelligence agent Majid Dastjani Farahani who is accused of orchestrating assassination plots against U.S. officials, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and U.S. Special Representative to Iran Brian Hook.

The Treasury Department accuses Farahani of recruiting individuals to surveil religious institutions, businesses, and other facilities in the United States as part of Iran's efforts to carry out acts of transnational repression, including rendition and lethal plots against activists, journalists, and foreign government officials.

"[354] On August 10, 2024, Politico revealed that it had been receiving internal Trump campaign documents from an anonymous source since July 22, including a 271-page vetting report on vice presidential candidate JD Vance's potential vulnerabilities.

The Justice Department has charged an operative of the Iranian regime, who was directed to coordinate a network of criminal associates to advance Iran's assassination plots against its targets, including President-elect Donald J.

Williams further asserted, "Today's charges send another clear message to those engaged in such efforts: we will remain steadfast in pursuing bad actors, regardless of their location, and will stop at nothing to bring to justice those who endanger our safety and security.

"[363] Following the revelation of the plot, Newsweek reported that the U.S. Secret Service had deployed a remote-controlled robotic dog to safeguard the president-elect at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida.

“While we cannot disclose specific capabilities, these robotic dogs are equipped with advanced surveillance technology and an array of sensors that enhance our protective operations.”[365] Iran lost its top Middle East expert just when it needed him most.