Fitzpatrick: Deadly Strike Was Needed To Protect U.S. Troops

LANGHORNE, PA — The U.S. air strike that killed one of Iran's top military commanders late Thursday "was needed to protect our American soldiers," U.S. Rep Brian Fitzpatrick said.

Fitzpatrick, a Republican who represents Bucks County in Congress, said Friday that Qasem Soleimani — the leader of Iran's Quds Force, which has carried out unconventional warfare operations and military intelligence — is directly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of U.S. troops.

"Soleimani perpetuated the Iranian regime’s destabilizing proxy wars across the Middle East and carried out numerous terrorist attacks on behalf of Iran — the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism," said Fitzpatrick, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

"According to the Defense Department, Soleimani was imminently plotting even more attacks on American servicemen and servicewomen, and therefore the air strike was needed to protect our American soldiers, diplomats, and civilians serving in critical missions in the region.," Fitzpatrick continued, in a written statement. "Iran’s attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, their mounting aggression against the United States in the region, and their direct and imminent threats to Americans serving in critical missions abroad cannot be ignored."

Fitzpatrick is a former FBI agent. From 2007-2008, he was embedded with U.S. Special Forces in Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Soleimani was reportedly killed in a strike by a U.S. drone on a two-car convoy near Baghdad International Airport in Iraq. At least a half-dozen other people, including an Iraqi militia leader, also were believed killed.

Iranian leaders have vowed "severe revenge" in the wake of the air strike. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called Soleimani and the others who were killed in the strike "martyrs."