Top US general: Intelligence pointed to Soleimani planning attacks against US

The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley said the United States “fully comprehends the strategic consequences" of the strike which killed Iran’s top commander Qassem Soleimani.

Milley added that there was "clear, unambiguous" intelligence that Iran’s Soleimani was planning a significant campaign of violence against the United States.

"Is there risk? Damn right there's risk. But we're mitigating it," he was quoted as saying.

Gen. Qassim Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, was killed in a US airstrike at Baghdad’s international airport on Friday. The strike also killed Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes, the deputy commander of Iran-backed militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, or PMF, the officials said.