An audacious drone strike by the U.S. has killed top Iranian General Qassim Soleimani. The President has said the assassination was to prevent a plot against America. President Trump described Soleimani as “the number one terrorist anywhere in the world.”

Mr Trump said: “We took action last night to stop a war, we did not take action to start a war.

“Soleimani made the death of innocent people his sick passion, contributing to terror plots as far away as New Delhi and London. His reign of terror is over.

“He was plotting imminent and sinister attacks on American diplomats and and personnel but we caught him in the act and terminated him.”

The attack happened whilst Soleimani, the head of the elite Quads Force, was in Baghdad. U.S. national security adviser Robert O’Brien said Soleimani was moving around the Middle East planning imminent attacks on U.S. diplomats and military personnel.

Iran’s Supreme National Security Council has issued a statement vowing to retaliate:

“America should know that its criminal attack on General Soleimani has been the country’s biggest mistake in west Asia, and America will not avoid the consequences of this wrong calculation easily,” it said.

“These criminals will face severe vengeance… in the right place and time,”

Read More: The Telegraph