US Intel Report Says Iran May Try To Kill US Official To Avenge Soleimani Murder

An intelligence assessment prepared by the US government reports that Iran may try to assassinate current or former senior American officials in revenge for the assassination more than two years ago of top Iranian general Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, leader of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Yahoo News, which obtained a copy of the report, first reported on Wednesday. The report is dated June 16, 2022, two days after the White House officially announced President Joe Biden’s trip to the Middle East. Soleimani was killed in January 2020 in a US drone strike ordered by then-President Donald Trump that killed Soleimani during a diplomatic visit to Iraq. “The Iranian regime is waging a multipronged campaign — including threats of lethal action, international legal maneuvering, and the issuance of Iranian arrest warrants and sanctions — against select US officials to avenge the death of IRGC-QF Commander Soleimani in January 2020, raising the threat at home and abroad for those Iran views as responsible for the killing,” according to the report. Yahoo News reported that the assessment also says: “Since January 2021, Tehran has publicly expressed a willingness to conduct lethal operations inside the United States and has consistently identified former President Donald Trump, former Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, and former CENTCOM Commander General Kenneth McKenzie as among its priority targets for retribution. Iran would probably view the killing or prosecution of a US official it considers equivalent in rank and stature to Soleimani or responsible for his death as successful retaliatory actions.” News of the report comes as Iran announced that indirect talks with the United States on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal with the world powers will resume “soon.”