At a briefing at the State Department, three senior officials stressed that the killing of Soleimani was carried out to head off an attack on Americans – and that it was a justifiable action taken in self-defense.
The officials could not say how far along the plot was or whether Soleimani’s death means the threat is over, but they did say the threat was to Americans in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and the region. They added that the attack targeted “American diplomats, American military personnel and facilities that house Americans.”
“The threat picture that the intelligence presented made it very clear that in the absence of decisive action, hundreds of Americans would be killed,” one official said.
Officials pushed back against calling Soleimani’s death an “assassination.” One official said,”It’s not an assassination.” Another said non-judicial executions are not allowed under international law, but there are certain criteria for this kind of action, including if the individual is about to launch a lethal attack and there is no realistic judicial or law enforcement alternative.
“And so you take lethal action against him,” the official said. “This is something that we’ve done many times over Democrat and Republican administrations that I’ve served in. It’s the same criteria that’s applied in this case and all cases.”
Officials added that “Whether the specific plots that he has unleashed were so far advanced that they may be able to carry them out, I don’t know. But my strong impression is that everybody in his little foreign legion is scurrying for cover. In fact, I think you can take my word on that that they are scurrying for cover.”
“We are not safe in the region as long as Iran is pursuing this general strategy —but we are safer without him than we are with him,” they added.
