- Senators were given a classified briefing by the White House informing them of the decision to assassinate top military commander Qassem Soleimani last Friday.
- Many of them criticized the lack of evidence specifying an "imminent threat" that Soleimani posed to US interests around the region.
- This exposes a gaping loophole in the Trump administration's decision to kill Soleimani, which has prompted Iranian missile strikes on two military bases housing US troops.
- Sen. Chris Van Hollen tweeted a partially-redacted image of the letter, which you can see below.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
A photo of an unclassified memo from President Donald Trump to the Senate informing it of his strike on Qassem Soleimani does not indicate that the Iranian general posed an imminent threat to US regional interests - exposing a gaping loophole in his justification.
The photo, tweeted by Sen. Chris Van Hollen late Wednesday night, showed a January 4 letter from Trump to Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Republican president of the Senate.
Parts of the letter have been redacted for the public.
Here's what it says:
Dear Mr. President:
[redactions]
I have also authorized the Secretary of Defense to deploy additional United States forces to the United States Central Command area of responsibility.
I directed these actions in response to an escalating series of attacks in recent months by Iran and Iran-backed militias on United States forces and interests in the Middle East region. The purposes of these actions are to protect United States personnel, to deter Iran from conducting or supporting further attacks against United States forces and interests, to degrade Iran's and Qods Force-backed militias' ability to conduct attacks, and to end Iran's strategic escalation of attacks on and threats to United States interests.
[redactions]
[signed] Donald Trump.
Qods is an alternative spelling for Quds Force, the elite military unit led by Soleimani until his death. Soleimani was killed by drone strike near Baghdad International Airport, Iraq, in the early hours of January 3.
The justifications for killing Soleimani, as stated in the letter, appear at odds with the Trump administration's repeated claims that it directed the strike because of "imminent threats to American lives," according to the Departments of Defense and State.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper also said on Tuesday that the US decision was made to preempt an Iranian attack on US targets within days, and National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien said Soleimani was "plotting ... to attack American facilities and diplomats."
Trump's memo to the Senate, however, cited "an escalating series of attacks in recent months" by Iran and its regional armed allies, but did not explicitly mention an "imminent threat."
Multiple Democratic and a few Republican lawmakers publicly criticized the letter, with many highlighting the lack of evidence of a specific, "imminent threat" to the region.
Van Hollen, who tweeted the Trump's letter to Grassley, added: "From all we've seen, including the redacted parts here and the briefing, the facts do not show an imminent threat. We must pass a bill making clear Trump can't start a war without a vote."
As highlighted by Insider's Sonam Sheth, even if there was an "imminent threat" to US regional interests, killing Soleimani did not necessarily remove that threat because he would not have carried out any attack himself.
The strike on Soleimani had come after days of open hostilities between US forces and Iraqi militias backed by Iran.
On December 27, the US blamed the Kataeb Hezbollah group for a rocket attack on an Iraqi base that killed three Americans. In response, the US launched an airstrike that killed 25 Kataeb Hezbollah fighters, and Iraqi protesters stormed the gates of the US Embassy in Baghdad.
Many top Congressional leaders said in the hours after the strike that they were not informed of the decision, and are urging the White House to seek Congressional approval before starting a war with Iran.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for a full briefing for Congress shortly after news of the strike broke, suggesting she was not informed of the decision.
Top Democratic Sens. Chuck Schumer and Mark Warner - both of whom are members of the "Gang of Eight," whom presidents traditionally keep updated about national security - also told HuffPost they were not forewarned of the strike.
In the days following Soleimani's death Iranian leaders vowed to exact revenge on the US, and on Tuesday it took it first step of doing so by launching more than a dozen missiles on two Iraqi bases that housed US and Iraqi troops.
Iranian leaders claimed they had "concluded" their "proportionate" retaliation against the US, which Trump also appeared to believe.
However, many intelligence and diplomatic experts believe Iran could later unleash more deniable - but possibly deadlier - attacks on the US by way of proxy groups in the region, and cyberattacks on American banks and power networks.
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