Trump Ordered Failed Airstrike Targeting a Second Iranian Quds Force Leader on Day of Soleimani Killing
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
President Donald Trump ordered an airstrike on a second Iranian Quds Force leader based in Yemen the same day Qasem Soleimani was killed, but that strike failed to kill its target, according to multiple U.S. officials in reporting by two major newspapers.
According to reports in both The Washington Post and The New York Times, Trump ordered the killing of Abdul Reza Shahlai, suggesting that the Soleimani strike may have been part of a broader effort to cripple the Iranian Quds Force, according to WaPo:
On the day the U.S. military killed a top Iranian commander in Baghdad, U.S. forces carried out another top-secret mission against a senior Iranian military official in Yemen, according to U.S. officials.
The strike targeting Abdul Reza Shahlai, a financier and key commander in Iran’s elite Quds Force who has been active in Yemen, did not result in his death, according to four U.S. officials familiar with the matter.
The unsuccessful operation may indicate that the Trump administration’s killing of Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani last week was part of a broader operation than previously explained, raising questions about whether the mission was designed to cripple the leadership of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps or solely to prevent an imminent attack on Americans as originally stated.
The Times reports that Trump ordered the strike at around the same time he approved the Soleimani killing:
The unsuccessful airstrike in Yemen was aimed at Abdul Reza Shahlai, an official with Iran’s Quds Force, a potent military organization that General Suleimani had led. Mr. Shahlai was known as a main organizer of financing for Shiite militias in the region.
President Trump approved the strike against Mr. Shahlai in the same period that he authorized the strike against General Suleimani on Jan. 3, although it was unclear if the American attack in Yemen occurred at precisely the same time.
Mr. Shahlai and General Suleimani were two of several Iranian officials the administration targeted in an effort to halt Iran-backed attacks on sites with Americans and to deter Iran from ramping up aggression in the region, American officials said.
The Trump administration has said that the Soleimani strike was ordered to prevent an “imminent” attack, but members of Congress briefed on the intelligence surrounding the strike remain unconvinced.
