By Guardian staff and agencies
Comments by US secretary of state – which also apply to Russia and China – contradict earlier assertion that the general posed imminent threat to US
The US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, has said Qassem Suleimani was killed as part of a broader strategy of deterring challenges by US foes that also applies to China and Russia, further diluting the assertion that the senior Iranian general was targeted because he was plotting imminent attacks on US assets.
In his speech at Stanford University’s Hoover Institute, Pompeo made no mention of the threat of imminent attacks planned by Suleimani. It only was in response to a question that he repeated his earlier assertion that pre-empting such plots was the reason for the 3 January US drone strike on Iran‘s second most powerful official.
Source: Pompeo says killing of Suleiman is part of ‘bigger strategy’ to deter US foes
Category: Iran, Canada, US news, Justin Trudeau, Americas, Middle East and North Africa, World news
