Overview
- Speaking at the Future Investment Initiative in Miami, President Trump praised Qasem Soleimani as a “great general and a great leader” while also calling him a “vicious, horrible human being.”
- Trump ordered the U.S. drone strike that killed Soleimani in January 2020 near Baghdad International Airport; Soleimani led the Quds Force, the overseas arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
- Trump said Iran’s leaders were “extremely happy” about Soleimani’s death, framing the strike as removing a “mad genius,” though he offered this as his view.
- With the Iran conflict now in its fourth week, Republican lawmakers are voicing unease about deeper involvement, including an unnamed GOP member who told Politico that sending ground troops would cost the party “60 to 70 seats.”
- Rep. Eli Crane of Arizona warned the fight could turn into another long Middle Eastern war and said many supporters and members of Congress are very concerned.