15 American Officials Reveal the Covert Plan to Eliminate Soleimani

A burning vehicle at Baghdad International Airport following an airstrike in Baghdad, Iraq, in which Qassem Soleimani was killed January 3, 2020. (Iraqi Prime Minister Press Office via AP)
A burning vehicle at Baghdad International Airport following an airstrike in Baghdad, Iraq, in which Qassem Soleimani was killed January 3, 2020. (Iraqi Prime Minister Press Office via AP)
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15 American Officials Reveal the Covert Plan to Eliminate Soleimani

A burning vehicle at Baghdad International Airport following an airstrike in Baghdad, Iraq, in which Qassem Soleimani was killed January 3, 2020. (Iraqi Prime Minister Press Office via AP)
A burning vehicle at Baghdad International Airport following an airstrike in Baghdad, Iraq, in which Qassem Soleimani was killed January 3, 2020. (Iraqi Prime Minister Press Office via AP)

Fifteen current and former American officials revealed to Yahoo News the details of the Trump administration’s covert plan to eliminate Qassem Soleimani, commander of Iran’s Quds Force, in an air strike near Baghdad airport in January 2020.

Three teams of Delta Force operators were at concealed locations at Baghdad International Airport last January, waiting for their target. Disguised as maintenance workers, the operators had secreted into position in old buildings or vehicles on the side of the road.

The three sniper teams positioned themselves 600 to 900 yards away from the “kill zone,” the access road from the airfield, setting up to triangulate their target as he left the airport. One of the snipers had a spotting scope with a camera attached that livestreamed back to the US Embassy in Baghdad, where the Delta Ground Force commander was based with support staff, said Yahoo News.

A member of the Counter Terrorism Group (CTG), an elite Kurdish unit in northern Iraq with deep links to US Special Operations, helped them make the wind call from down range.

The flight from Damascus, Syria, finally landed after midnight on Jan. 3, 2020, several hours behind schedule. Three US drones orbited overhead. As the plane taxied off the runway, toward the closed-off portion of the airfield, one of the Kurdish operatives disguised as ground crew guided the aircraft to a halt on the tarmac. When the target stepped off the airplane, Kurdish CTG operators posing as baggage handlers were also present to positively identify him.

Soleimani had just arrived at Baghdad International. The Iranian general and his entourage loaded into two vehicles and drove toward the kill zone, where the Delta Force snipers lay in wait.

The two vehicles, one containing Soleimani, pulled out into the street to leave the airport. The three Delta Force sniper teams were ready, safeties rotated off on their long guns, fingers resting gently on their triggers. Above them, the three drones glided through the night sky, two of them armed with hellfire missiles, reported Yahoo News.

In the six hours before Soleimani boarded his flight from Damascus, the Iranian general switched cellphones three times, according to a US military official.

In Tel Aviv, US Joint Special Operations Command liaisons worked with their Israeli counterparts to help track Soleimani’s cellphone patterns. The Israelis, who had access to Soleimani’s numbers, passed them off to the Americans, who traced Soleimani and his current phone to Baghdad.

Members of the secretive Army unit known as Task Force Orange were also on the ground in Baghdad that night, said the military official, providing “knob turners” — close-range signals intelligence experts — to help home in on Soleimani’s electronics for the tactical portion of the operation.

As the two vehicles moved into the kill zone, drone operators fired on the motorcade. Two hellfire missiles crashed down on Soleimani’s vehicle, obliterating it in the street. The driver of the second vehicle stepped on the gas to escape. The driver made it about 100 yards before slamming on the brakes when a Delta Force sniper engaged, firing on the vehicle. Just as the vehicle ground to a halt, a third hellfire missile struck, blasting it apart.

At the White House, discussions about killing Soleimani picked up during the summer of 2018, around the time the administration formally announced it was withdrawing from the Obama-era nuclear deal and reimposing sanctions on Iran as part of its “maximum pressure” strategy. But by this time, National Security Council planners were looking toward the Pentagon’s special operations units, and not CIA paramilitaries or their proxies, to carry out the strike, revealed Yahoo News.

Things took a more serious turn by mid-November 2019. With tensions heating up across the region, NSC officials received “the call from the top that they needed to make sure options were in order” for killing Soleimani around that time.

“We were tracking Soleimani pretty closely, and there was a tendency for him to travel somewhere and some very bad things to happen to the US,” recalled Victoria Coates, then the deputy national security adviser for the Middle East, according to Yahoo News.

A small group of people that included, along with Coates, started meeting regularly to discuss potential options for killing the Iranian general. These plans were sent to Trump’s desk after a rocket attack by Iranian proxies killed a US contractor in northern Iraq in late December 2019, said former senior administration officials.

The death of a US citizen at Iran’s hands was a red line for Trump, and helped solidify the decision to kill Soleimani, according to the former officials.

American officials
As zero hour approached, in Washington, DC, a small group of top officials, including Coates, gathered in the Situation Room to prepare for the strike. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mark Milley and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo watched from the Pentagon.

Trump, who was hooked up by audio link to the Situation Room, kept track of the events from Mar-a-Lago with national security adviser Robert O’Brien, said Yahoo News.

In a later speech to Republican donors at Mar-a-Lago, Trump described listening to military officials during the killing, who were monitoring the operation via “cameras that are miles in the sky,” according to audio of the talk, which was later leaked to CNN and the Washington Post.

“‘They’re together sir,’” said Trump, recounting the military officials’ description. “‘Sir, they have two minutes and 11 seconds.’ No emotion. ‘Two minutes and 11 seconds to live, sir. They’re in the car, they're in an armored vehicle going. Sir, they have approximately one minute to live, sir. 30 seconds. 10, 9, 8 ...’ Then all of a sudden, boom.”

“‘They’re gone, sir,’” Trump recalled the official saying.

Not mentioned by Trump was one critical detail. After the strike, according to two US officials, a Kurdish operative disguised as an Iraqi police officer walked up to the wreckage of Soleimani’s vehicle, snapped photographs and quickly obtained a tissue sample for DNA confirmation before walking away and vanishing into the night.



Iran: No Deal Without Tangible Sanctions Relief, Guarantees

Two Omani security officers monitor a motorcade believed to be carrying US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff in Muscat on April 12. (AP)
Two Omani security officers monitor a motorcade believed to be carrying US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff in Muscat on April 12. (AP)
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Iran: No Deal Without Tangible Sanctions Relief, Guarantees

Two Omani security officers monitor a motorcade believed to be carrying US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff in Muscat on April 12. (AP)
Two Omani security officers monitor a motorcade believed to be carrying US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff in Muscat on April 12. (AP)

Iran has accused Israel of actively working to undermine ongoing negotiations between Tehran and Washington over its nuclear program. The talks, mediated by Oman, have centered on Iran’s key demand: effective sanctions relief and concrete guarantees from the United States.

At the same time, Iranian officials warned European powers against triggering the “snapback” sanctions mechanism, calling it a threat to the negotiation track Iran is attempting to strengthen with Washington.

US President Donald Trump said Monday that the United States has held productive discussions with Iran but acknowledged that more time is needed. His comments followed the conclusion of the second round of indirect talks between the two sides, which took place in Rome.

Both countries agreed to work toward a framework for a potential nuclear agreement and described the talks as having made progress. Trump, who withdrew from the 2015 nuclear accord during his first term in 2018, has warned that the US could support military action if Iran does not agree to a new deal aimed at preventing it from developing nuclear weapons.

In their second indirect exchange within a week, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held nearly four hours of talks in Rome with Steve Witkoff, the US president’s Middle East envoy. The messages were relayed through Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, who is playing a key mediation role.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian reiterated his country’s stance, stating that Tehran is ready to reach an agreement within a clear framework that preserves national interests. However, he added that if the negotiations are not conducted on equal terms, Iran will continue along its own path, consistent with the position expressed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Meanwhile, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei stated that an emerging alliance appears intent on disrupting the diplomatic process. He said Israel is at the center of these efforts and claimed that several provocative elements in the United States, including certain political figures, are also working against a deal.

The New York Times reported last week that Trump had asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to refrain from launching attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities in the short term to allow diplomatic efforts to continue. Netanyahu reaffirmed on Sunday that Israel remains committed to preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

Trump also warned last week that if negotiations fail, Iran could face a military strike led by Israel.