US President Donald Trump vowed, on Tuesday, to respond strongly to Iran if it takes any action as a result of Washington targeting the commander of the Qods Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard militia, Qassem Soleimani.
"We are ready for war, if necessary, and if Iran does anything, you will pay the price," Trump said.
Trump confirmed, in press statements, that the United States had tracked Soleimani’s moves and plans for a long time, explaining that Soleimani was planning a major attack targeting American interests.
Trump added that targeting Soleimani, who was accompanying the founder of the Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades, saved many lives.
Regarding withdrawing American forces from Iraq, Trump announced his desire to withdraw American forces from Iraq at some point, not now, and continued, saying: “If we leave Iraq, we will leave Iran with a much greater foothold there.”
He added, "The American withdrawal will be the worst that could happen to Iraq."
The US President told reporters that he would abide by international law regarding avoiding targeting cultural sites in military attacks, reversing a threat he had launched against Iran a few days ago.
Trump said on Saturday that the United States had identified 52 Iranian sites, including sites that are very important to Iranian culture, that it would strike if Iran launched attacks on Americans or American interests in response to the killing of Qassem Soleimani.
This comes after the US Secretary of Defense, Mark Esper, confirmed that the American forces will not leave Iraq, in a press conference held on Tuesday evening.
Esper said in a press conference at the White House that the United States will not leave Iraq, as it was circulated in recent days, and that its policy "will not change."
And Esber pointed out that the United States "needs to maintain its presence in Iraq to fight ISIS," and he stressed that "no Iraqi request to withdraw from Iraq has arrived."
The Esper talk came confirming the statements of the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Millie, who said that the leaked letter from the US military to Iraq, which raised impressions of an imminent US withdrawal from the country, was only a poorly drafted draft that aimed only to highlight an increase in troop movements .
General Milli told a group of reporters that the message was "poorly worded and suggests withdrawal, but that is not what will happen," stressing that withdrawal is not planned.
The leaked letter came a day after the Iraqi parliament approved a resolution requiring all foreign forces to leave the country.