| Assassination of Qasem Soleimani | |
|---|---|
| Part of the Persian Gulf crisis (2019–present) and the American-led intervention in Iraq | |
 The car Qassem Soleimani was riding in | |
| Type | Drone strike[1] |
| Location | 33°15′29″N 44°15′22″E / 33.25806°N 44.25611°E |
| Planned by |  United States |
| Target | Qasem Soleimani † |
| Date | 3 January 2020 About 1:00 a.m.[2] (local time, UTC+3) |
| Executed by |  United States Air Force |
| Successful | |
| Casualties |   10 killed, including Qasem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis |
  Location in Iraq | |
On 3 January 2020, Qasem Soleimani, an Iranian major general, was killed by an American drone strike near Baghdad International Airport, Iraq, while travelling to meet Iraqi prime minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi.
Soleimani was commander of the Quds Force, one of five branches of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which is designated as a terrorist organization by both the United States and European Parliament.[3][4] Soleimani was considered the second most powerful person in Iran, subordinate to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.[5] Five Iraqi nationals and four other Iranian nationals were killed alongside Soleimani, including the deputy chairman of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) and commander of the Iran-backed Kata'ib Hezbollah militia, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. The Pentagon says Soleimani and his troops were "responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members and the wounding of thousands more."[6]
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. On 27 December 2019, the K-1 Air Base in Iraq, which hosts Iraqi and U.S. personnel, was attacked, killing an American contractor. The U.S. responded by launching airstrikes across Iraq and Syria, reportedly killing 25 Kata'ib Hezbollah militiamen. Days later, Shia militiamen and their supporters retaliated by attacking the U.S. embassy in the Green Zone.
U.S. officials justified the Soleimani strike saying it was necessary to stop an "imminent attack", though later clarifying the legal justification of the action as being taken "in response to an escalating series of attacks...to protect United States personnel, to deter Iran from conducting or supporting further attacks...and to end Iran's strategic escalation of attacks..."[7] Some experts, including the United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, considered the assassination as a likely violation of international law as well as U.S. domestic laws. Iran called the strike an act of "state terrorism". The Iraqi government said the attack undermined its national sovereignty and considered it a breach of its bilateral security agreements with the U.S. and an act of aggression against its officials. On 5 January 2020, the Iraqi parliament passed a non-binding resolution to expel all foreign troops from its territory while, on the same day, Iran took the fifth and last step of reducing commitments to the 2015 international nuclear deal.
Soleimani's killing sharply escalated tensions between the U.S. and Iran. Iranian leaders vowed revenge, while U.S. officials said they would preemptively attack any Iran-backed paramilitary groups in Iraq that they perceived as a threat. Many in the international community reacted with concern and urged restraint and diplomacy. On 8 January 2020, five days after the airstrike, Iran launched a series of missile attacks on U.S. forces based in Iraq, the first known direct engagement between Iran and the U.S. since the naval battle precipitating the Vincennes incident on 3 July 1988.
Following the 8 January 2020 shootdown of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752—a civilian airliner—by the IRGC amidst the escalation, no additional military actions took place.[8]
- ^ Cohen, Zachary; Alkhshali, Hamdi; Khadder, Kareem; Dewan, Angela (3 January 2020). "US drone strike ordered by Trump kills top Iranian commander in Baghdad". CNN. Archived from the original on 3 January 2020. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
- ^ Ghattas, Kim (3 January 2020). "Qassem Soleimani Haunted the Arab World". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on 3 January 2020. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
- ^ "Statement by the Department of Defense". U.S. Department of Defense. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
- ^ Motamedi, Maziar. "Iran warns EU over 'terrorist' designation vote for IRGC". www.aljazeera.com. Archived from the original on 11 August 2023. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
- ^ Nakhoul, Samia (3 January 2020). "U.S. killing of Iran's second most powerful man risks regional conflagration". Reuters. Archived from the original on 28 April 2023. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
- ^ "Statement by the Department of Defense". Archived from the original on 16 April 2022. Retrieved 19 April 2022.
- ^ "White House Releases Report Justifying Soleimani Strike". 14 February 2020. Archived from the original on 9 December 2023. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
- ^ Clary, Christopher; Talmadge, Caitlin (17 January 2020). "The US-Iran crisis has calmed down — but things won't ever go back to how they were before". Brookings Institution. Archived from the original on 13 September 2020. Retrieved 9 September 2020.