U. S. , quote, bears responsibility for all consequences. He called soleimani the most effective force fighting isis and al qaeda and said it is dangerous and a foolish escalation. Mike pompeo tweeted this video posting, quote, iraqis, iraqis dancing in the street for freedom. Thankful that general soleimani is no more. Nbc news has not been able to independently verify this video. We dont know when and where it was taken. President trump had no words after the attack tweeting only this image of the u. S. Flag. With us this morning we have washington anchor for bbc world news america katty cay. Associate editor of the Washington Post and political analyst euGene Robinson. Columnist for the daily beast and coauthor of the best selling book isis, inside the army of terror Michael Weiss. Hans nichols in maralago. Former allied commander, retired four Star Navy Admiral, hes the chief International Security and diplomacy analyst for nbc news and msnbc. And edward luce of the Financial Times
Aishah hasnie checks off coverage and reaction from critics. Reporter the pentagon released a statement confirming the us has killed iranian Major General solomoneye. At the direction of the president the us military has taken Decisive Action to protect us personnel abroad by killing him ahead of the Iranian Revolutionary guard. A designated foreign terrorist organization. It was in actively developing plan to attack americas diplomats and Service Members in iraq and throughout the region. The 62yearold was designated a terrorist by the us in 2005. The pentagon says he orchestrated the attacks on coalition bases in iran over the last several months including the december 27th attack. He is also responsible for killing 600 american troops over the iraq war and was also part of a failed iranian plot to assassinate the saudi ambassador in 2011. He is among 7 People Killed by a us airstrike near Baghdad International airport. The other major death is Iraqi Militia commander, the man behind
Good evening once again from our nbc news headquarters here in new york. Im Steve Kornacki in for brian williams. Day 1078 of the trump administration, and tonight this president is facing rapidly increasing pressure, both at home and overseas. The president has been spending his last few days at his resort in florida. His administration has been preparing for impeachment trial in the senate. But ithe turns out the trump whe house has also been working on a military strike against a prominent iranian leader. The Defense Department tonight has confirmed that the United States has killed iranian general Qassim Soleimani. Soleimani may not be familiar to many americans, he was the head of irans quds force, an elite unit of the Iranian Revolutionary guard. Iraqi state tv says a general and Iraqi Militia leader were among several people who died in a drone strike at baghdads airport. The defenses Department Said t president metook, quote, decisi defensive action to protect u. S. Personnel o
Future trial juror corey booker will be joining us tonight. But now we will also be drawing on senator bookers expertise as the member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to get his reaction to the developments in iraq tonight where the pentagon has confirmed a top iranian general has been killed in a u. S. Strike at baghdad air force. I want to read you a statement in full. It says at the direction of the president , the u. S. Military has taken decisive defensive action to protect u. S. Personnel abroad by killing Qassim Soleimani, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary guard corp. , the cud force, a terrorist organization. General soleimani was actually developing plans to attack american diplomats and Service Members in iraq and throughout the region. General soleimani and his quds force were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of american and coalition Service Members and the wounding of thousands more. He orchestrated attacks on Coalition Forces in iraq over the last seve
Unit. The pentagon says he was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of u. S. Forces in the region. The u. S. Strike on baghdads airport, also killed a member of the mobilization forces. The pmf is the same group that supporters tried to storm the embassy in baghdad earlier this week. Cnns arwa damon is live in baghdad. Alex marquardt is in london. Well go to tehran, shortly, too. Lets go to baghdad. Arwa damon there. Its difficult to overstate how much of an impact this action could take. Give us your thoughts. Reporter michael, were entering uncharted territory. This kind of escalation by the u. S. Is only going to be viewed by iran as an act of war. Its difficult to imagine a scenario where iran wouldnt be ready for Something Like this, given how things have been going recently between tehran and washington. Now, this strike happened just outside of Baghdad International airport, targeting this convoy that was carrying Qassim Soleimani and the leader of the group that was targeted