How Trump Took the U.S. to War With Iran
Reuters: Trumps 2020 drone strike that killed Iranian general Soleimani triggered missile retaliation, pushing U.S. and Iran to brink of open conflict.
Image: GlobalBeat / 2026
Trump Iran war: Soleimani drone strike triggered 2020 missile barrage, 176 civilians dead
By Muhammad Asghar | GlobalBeat
President Donald Trump’s January 3, 2020 order to kill Iranian General Qassem Soleimani at Baghdad airport plunged the United States and Iran into the closest thing to open war since 1988.
Iran retaliated five days later with 22 ballistic missiles that shredded al-Asad airbase in Iraq, concussing 110 American troops. While those soldiers lived, a nervous Iranian air-defense crew mistakenly shot down Ukraine International Flight 752 hours after the barrage, killing all 176 people on board, including 85 Canadian citizens and permanent residents.
The 8-minute drone strike and its aftermath shattered the 2015 nuclear deal, revived a U.S. “maximum pressure” sanctions regime that wiped out 20 percent of Iran’s economy, and pushed Tehran to enrich uranium closer than ever to weapons grade. Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper wrote in his 2022 memoir that Pentagon chiefs feared “a regional conflagration we might not be able to contain.”
Background
Soleimani commanded the Quds Force, the external arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, for 21 years. U.S. officials blamed him for the deaths of 603 American troops during the Iraq War, mostly through roadside bombs built in Iran and smuggled to Shia militias. Yet every president from George W. Bush to Barack Obama judged that killing him risked war and held back. Trump changed that calculus after a December 27, 2019 rocket attack by Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia, killed a U.S. contractor at a base in Kirkuk. U.S. jets then bombed the militia, killing 25 fighters. Supporters stormed the U.S. embassy in Baghdad on New Year’s Eve, burning a reception annex. Trump, on vacation at Mar-a-Lago, saw television images and decided the embassy might face another Benghazi, aides later told reporters.
What’s Next
The next flashpoint is Israel’s expected retaliation for Iran’s April 1 drone-and-missile attack. Trump has urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “hit the nuclear sites and be done with it,” according to a March 28 report in the Washington Post. If Israel strikes, Iran has vowed to respond again, raising the odds that U.S. forces still stationed in Iraq and the Gulf could be drawn into a wider exchange before the November election.
Senior Correspondent, World & Geopolitics
Muhammad Asghar covers international affairs, conflict zones, and US foreign policy for GlobalBeat. He has reported on events across the Middle East, South Asia, and Eastern Europe, with a focus on the intersection of diplomacy and armed conflict. He has been writing wire-service journalism for over a decade.