![]() ![]() Governments conducting assassinations of foreign leaders and officials was largely frowned upon in prior centuries, but that norm has been weakening over time, especially since World War II. Such instances include United States decapitation strike air raids targeting Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 1986 and Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in 1991, 1998, and 2003, in addition to killings or attempted killings of non-state terrorist leaders such as Anwar al-Awlaki and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The modern Middle East has seen a number of occasions in which the assassination of high-level government and military figures was attempted, or at least considered. Background įurther information: Iran–United States relations Assassination as a policy consideration Following the shootdown of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 amidst the escalation, no additional military actions took place. since the naval battle precipitating the Vincennes incident on 3 July 1988. forces based in Iraq, the first known direct engagement between Iran and the U.S. Five days after the airstrike, Iran launched a series of missile attacks on U.S. Many in the international community reacted with concern and urged restraint and diplomacy. officials said they would preemptively attack any Iran-backed paramilitary groups in Iraq that they perceived as a threat. Iranian leaders vowed revenge, while U.S. ![]() Soleimani's killing sharply escalated tensions between the U.S. 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. and an act of aggression against its officials. The Iraqi government said the attack undermined its national sovereignty and considered it a breach of its bilateral security agreements with the U.S. Iran called the strike an act of " state terrorism". 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." 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. Days later, Shia militiamen and their supporters retaliated by attacking the U.S. responded by launching airstrikes across Iraq and Syria, reportedly killing 25 Kata'ib Hezbollah militiamen. personnel, was attacked, killing an American contractor. On 27 December 2019, the K-1 Air Base in Iraq, which hosts Iraqi and 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. The strike occurred during the 2019–2022 Persian Gulf crisis, which began after the U.S. ![]() 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." 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 – a person designated as a terrorist by the U.S. Soleimani was considered the second most powerful person in Iran, subordinate to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Soleimani was commander of the Quds Force, one of five branches of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a designated terrorist organization by both the United States and European Parliament. drone strike near the Baghdad International Airport in Iraq while he was on his way to meet Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi. On 3 January 2020, Qasem Soleimani, an Iranian major general, was targeted and killed by a U.S. ![]()
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