Why did Trump mention Qassem Soleimani after striking Iran? Hint: to sell his military actions

Israel-Iran War: Jumping straight into the ongoing Israel-Iran war, US President Donald Trump launched aerial strikes on Iran targeting its nuclear facilities on Saturday (June 21). Later on, he held a press briefing and seemed to justify his military actions by claiming that the Islamic Republic has long been saying "Death to America." In his address, the American president mentioned Qassem Soleimani, a top Iranian commander who was killed by the US in 2020.

"For 40 years, Iran has been saying 'Death to America', 'Death to Israel'. They have been killing our people, blowing off their arms, blowing off their legs ... we lost over a thousand people and hundreds of thousands throughout the Middle East and around the world have died as a direct result of the hate. In particular, so many were killed by their [Iran] General, Qassem Soleimani," Trump said.

"I decided a long time ago that I would not let this happen. It will NOT continue," the American president added.

Who was Soleimani - for the world, and for US?

General Qassem Soleimani was a top commander of Iran - probably the most powerful among all. He was not less than a hero for a majority of people in Iran and other parts of the region for building an axis of allied militias to counter the US and Israel.

But for US, he was nothing more than a force behind international terrorism campaigns. In 2020, after US killed him, President Donald Trump had said that his killing was required to "stop a war" because the Iranian General was allegedly plotting an attack on America.

Soleimani's history

Soleimani was in his 20s when he beacme part of ran's revolutionary generation and joined the Revolutionary Guard. This was after the 1979 theocratic uprising that toppled the Shah of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, a close US ally.

He was promoted during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. By 1998, Soleimani became the head of Iran's military-security apparatus, the Revolutionary Guard's Quds Force.

How did America kill Soleimani?

The US killed Soleimani in 2020 in a drone strike, authorised by Trump, at the Baghdad airport, Iraq. After his killing, the Pentagon released a statement accusing the General of planning attacks on Americans, of orchestrating attacks on coalition bases in Iraq and of approving an attack on the US Embassy in Baghdad.

US joins Israel in war against Iran

After claiming that he had no plans to bomb the Islamic Republic, US President Donald Trump joined Israel and launched an aerial strike in Iran targeting its nuclear facilities on Saturday (June 21). America struck three key nuke sites of Iran - Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan in its first intervention in the ongoing Israel-Iran war that started on June 13 after Israel struck Iran. In its strike on Iran's Fordow, the US reportedly used around 30,000-pound "bunker buster" bombs and weapons.

Trump announced the US intervention in the war on social media after striking the nuclear facilities of Iran. The American president called the airstrikes a "very successful military operation" against Ayatollah Ali Khamenei-led Iran.

'US is not looking for regime change in Iran'?

As per the American news agency, CBS News, some unnamed sources said that after bombing Iran, the Donald Trump-led administration sent a message to Khamenei saying that the American strikes were limited to the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program and that Washington is not looking for regime change.