Imminent Threat? Trump Reportedly Authorized Soleimani’s Killing Seven Months Ago

Photo credit: Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images

A new report raises questions about whether the Trump administration acted in response to an imminent threat when President Donald Trump authorized the fatal airstrike against Iranian military leader Qasem Soleimani.

NBC reports that back in June of 2019, Trump was urged by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former White House national security adviser John Bolton to sign off on an operation to kill Soleimani. This occurred when Trump was deciding what to do in retaliation after Iran shot down an unmanned US spy drone that was flying over the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump reportedly said that he wouldn’t authorize Soleimani’s death at the time, but a source briefed on the matter told NBC that Trump’s message was “that’s only on the table if they hit Americans.” The president would have the final authority to sign off on an operation to terminate Soleimani, and as NBC notes, “that decision explains why assassinating Soleimani was on the menu of options that the military presented to Trump two weeks ago for responding to an attack by Iranian proxies in Iraq.”

“There have been a number of options presented to the president over the course of time,” a senior administration official said, adding that it was “some time ago” that the president’s aides put assassinating Soleimani on the list of potential responses to Iranian aggression.

Ever since the Soleimani airstrike, the Trump administration has struggled to define an “imminent threat” from Iran to justify the killing without Congressional approval. Trump claimed to Fox News’ Laura Ingraham that multiple embassies were facing threats before the Soleimani strike, but Defense Secretary Mark Esper said that even though Iran was “probably” planning that, he “didn’t see” intelligence evidence to prove it.