Iran's Qasem Soleimani was planning to attack US diplomats , but we caught him in the act, terminated him- Trump

Iran vows 'severe revenge' for top general's death

Iran's Qasem Soleimani 

U.S. President Donald Trump said he was not seeking a war with Iran, or "regime change," after assassinating the country's top general in an audacious drone strike.

The US president said he had acted to prevent a plot against America by General Qassim Soleimani, who he called a "sick monster"and "the number one terrorist anywhere in the world."

Mr Trump said: "We took action last night to stop a war, we did not take action to start a war.

"Soleimani made the death of innocent people his sick passion, contributing to terror plots as far away as New Delhi and London. His reign of terror is over.

"He was plotting imminent and sinister attacks on American diplomats and personnel but we caught him in the act and terminated him."

The president added: "We do not seek regime change. However, the Iranian regime's aggression, including use of proxy fighters to destabilise neighbours, must end, and it must end now."

If Americans anywhere were targeted by Iran he had "targets already identified and I am ready and prepared to take whatever action is necessary."

On Friday night, the White House insisted it acted in response to clear threats against Americans.

Robert O'Brien, the US national security adviser, said Soleimani had arrived in Baghdad from Damascus and had been moving around the Middle East plotting imminent attacks on US diplomats and military personnel.

Iran has vowed to retaliate against the US airstrike, calling the move America's "biggest mistake in west Asia" and threatening "severe vengeance".

Soleimani, head of Iran's elite Quds Force, was killed in the US airstrike at Baghdad's international airport early on Friday, a move that has provoked a major escalation in US-Iran tensions.

Iran's Supreme National Security Council has issued a statement vowing to retaliate "in the right place and time".

"America should know that its criminal attack on General Soleimani has been the country's biggest mistake in west Asia, and America will not avoid the consequences of this wrong calculation easily," it said.

"These criminals will face severe vengeance... in the right place and time," it added.

It seems the US may have forgotten the meaning of deterrence. Deterrence aims to discourage future attacks by instilling fear of reprisal and generally takes the form of a threat. 

Therefore, Killing Soleimani was not a threat, it was the punishment.

Of course, in criminology, there is a kind of deterrence that works through punishment. But in this case, it’s unlikely to work. After the strike, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei quickly promised retaliation, and the New York Times reported that American officials are bracing for potential cyber and terrorist attacks against American interests and allies. 

The United State embassy in Iraq has already urged all Americans to leave Iraq immediately. So the strike might have headed off certain attacks, but it may well prompt many others. That doesn’t sound like how deterrence is supposed to work.

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