Press Releases

WASHINGTON, D.C. –  On Thursday, U.S. Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.) spoke with Jason Chaffetz on Fox News about the death of Iranian Gen. Qassim Soleimani in Baghdad. President Trump ordered the U.S. military attack that killed Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' elite Quds Force, among other military officials at Baghdad International Airport early Friday, the Pentagon confirmed.

“This is a bold, decisive and frankly long overdue move on the part of the United States to take down Soleimani. He is directly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American soldiers, thousands if not tens of thousands of people across the Middle East. He’s the equivalent of Iran’s Head of CIA and Special Forces that runs all their militias and proxies across Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. Particularly during the height of the Iraq War were running the Iranian-backed Iraqi Shiite militias that were bombing, shooting, ambushing and killing U.S. soldiers.”

Soleimani was considered by many U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to be equally dangerous as ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was killed in a military raid in Syria in October. Soleimani was the long-running leader of the Quds Force, which has been a designated terror group since 2007.

Waltz praised President Trump for ordering the attack after an Iran-backed militia attacked the U.S. embassy in Baghdad earlier this week.

“I think this is the right move on the part of the President,” Waltz said. “It’s proportional. It’s not attacking Iran directly but it’s taking down the head of their Special Forces, who has been killing Americans for years. I fully support the President in this move. Iran needs to hear it loud and clear: If they continue to escalate, this President, this Commander in Chief will not stand for it and [Iran] will feel the pain and consequences of their actions.”

A video of Waltz’s comments is available here.