President Donald Trump said Iran had targeted four American embassies before the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani a week ago—the clearest details yet on the intelligence U.S. officials had gathered ahead of the airstrike in Baghdad.
Following Soleimani’s death, Iran fired more than a dozen missiles at U.S. soldiers housed in Iraqi bases on Tuesday night, causing no casualties. Iranian officials said the attack was in retaliation for Soleimani’s killing.
The United States said Soleimani was also responsible for the deaths of numerous American soldiers over the years, and in April 2019, his Quds Force was designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the Department of State. Over the past year or so, tensions between the United States and Iran have risen following an attack on a Saudi oil facility that officials blamed on Iran, while Tehran was also accused of capturing oil tankers traveling in and around the Strait of Hormuz.
Additional sanctions were announced against Iran on Friday, said Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday.
In an announcement about his executive order, Trump wrote that he is “holding the Iranian regime responsible for attacks against United States personnel and interests by denying it substantial revenue that may be used to fund and support its nuclear program, missile development, terrorism and terrorist proxy networks, and malign regional influence.”
After Trump announced that sanctions would be levied earlier in the week instead of a military action, Iranian officials lodged more threats.