On January 3, 2020, a US MQ-9 Reaper drone fired missiles at a convoy near Baghdad International Airport, killing Major General Qasem Soleimani — commander of the IRGC's Quds Force and widely considered the second most powerful person in Iran.

Who Was Soleimani?

Qasem Soleimani was the architect of Iran's regional strategy. As head of the Quds Force (the IRGC's external operations arm), he built and managed Iran's network of proxy forces across the Middle East:

To the US and Israel, he was a terrorist responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American soldiers (through Iraqi militias he armed). To many Iranians and Shia across the region, he was a national hero who defeated ISIS and protected Shia communities.

The Assassination

Trump ordered the strike without Congressional authorization, claiming an "imminent threat" — though the evidence for this was disputed. The strike also killed Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces, and several others.

Iran's Response

On January 8, 2020, Iran launched Operation Martyr Soleimani — firing 22 ballistic missiles at two US military bases in Iraq (Al Asad and Erbil). The US reported no deaths, though over 100 soldiers suffered traumatic brain injuries.

Millions of Iranians attended Soleimani's funeral procession — one of the largest gatherings in modern history. The event was marred by a stampede in Kerman that killed 56 mourners.

The Precedent

The Soleimani assassination established a new precedent: the US was willing to assassinate senior foreign military officials outside of declared wars. This precedent directly enabled the Khamenei assassination six years later — a leap from killing a military commander to killing a head of state.

Sources

US Department of Defense statements · Iranian state media · NYT · BBC · Congressional Research Service reports · Pentagon TBI disclosures