根据一份详细描述总司令与高级政府和军事助手讨论的新报告，唐纳德·特朗普总统自2017年以来一直在猜测杀害伊朗最高军事指挥官卡西姆·苏莱曼尼的可能性。
华盛顿邮报周日报道称，总统自就职以来已经数次讨论暗杀伊斯兰革命卫队秘密圣城部队指挥官少将·卡西姆·苏莱曼尼。
引用匿名的前政府和五角大楼官员的话张贴特朗普首先建议在2017年春天杀死苏莱曼尼，以回应伊朗支持的胡塞叛军在也门对沙特首都利雅得发动的弹道导弹袭击。此次袭击发生在特朗普就任以来首次出国旅行之前。
据报道，当时的国防部长吉姆·马丁斯反对这一想法。但该报称，这一建议不会消失，特朗普在此后的几个月和几年中又数次提出这一建议。
一位未透露姓名的前五角大楼高级官员告诉记者张贴，“这个想法已经讨论了一段时间...这不是一个很难或特别复杂的想法。”
据说，更有分寸的助手说服特朗普放弃了任期初期在从伊朗到北约再到中东军队部署的一系列外交政策问题上的极端决定。
一名前政府高级官员告诉记者张贴“他会兴奋起来，如果你争取一些时间，你可以让他平静下来，然后向他解释他的决定可能会做什么。”
但是特朗普已经慢慢地用倾向鹰派的忠诚者取代了反对者。其中包括像国务卿迈克·庞贝这样的人物。庞贝尤其被认为是索莱马尼遇刺的主要支持者，据报道称退休前，他会带将军“离开战场”。
特朗普、庞贝和其他官员坚称，苏莱曼尼被杀是为了阻止针对美国在中东目标的迫在眉睫的袭击。特朗普周五表示，这位少将计划袭击四个美国大使馆。政府尚未提供任何证据来支持这一说法。
周日，斯珀在接受美国全国广播公司新闻采访时似乎与总司令相矛盾他没有看到任何证据指向四个大使馆即将面临的威胁。
然而，他确实说，“我同意总统的观点，我的预期是他们可能会袭击我们的大使馆。”
全国广播公司新闻周一发表了一份单独的报告——引用了五名现任和前任政府高级官员的话——称特朗普在6月份预先批准了索莱马尼的杀戮命令，以防伊朗的行动杀死任何美国人。
总统仍然被要求对杀害伊朗指挥官的巴格达行动进行最后的签字确认。
据报道，这一决定是在伊朗击落一架美国无人驾驶飞机后做出的。此前，波斯湾周边局势持续数周紧张，包括美国指责伊朗多次袭击商业航运。
美国全国广播公司报道称，当时的国家安全顾问约翰·博尔顿敦促总统立即暗杀苏莱曼尼，但特朗普表示，只有当一名美国人被杀时，他才会实施该计划。国家广播公司说庞贝也支持在六月杀死索莱马尼的计划。
两者张贴美国全国广播公司的报道破坏了白宫的断言，即杀害苏莱曼尼的决定只是为了应对中东美国人面临的迫在眉睫的威胁。
国家安全委员会在被要求对以下报告发表评论时没有提供正式声明新闻周刊。美国国务院将问题提交给白宫，白宫没有立即回复单独的置评请求。
这张档案照片显示的是唐纳德·特朗普总统和美国国务卿麦克·庞贝2019年10月21日在华盛顿特区白宫举行的内阁会议
TRUMP CONSIDERED KILLING QASSEM SOLEIMANI SEVERAL TIMES SINCE 2017, REPORT SAYS
President Donald Trump had been floating the possibility of killing top Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani since 2017, according to a new report detailing the commander in chief's discussions with senior administration and military aides.
The Washington Post reported Sunday that the president had discussed assassinating Major General Qassem Soleimani—the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' clandestine Quds Force—several times since taking office.
Citing unnamed former administration and Pentagon officials, the Post said Trump first suggested killing Soleimani in the spring of 2017, in response to a ballistic missile attack launched by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen against the Saudi capital Riyadh. The attack came just before Trump traveled to the kingdom as his first foreign trip since taking office.
Then-Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis reportedly resisted the idea. But the suggestion would not go away and Trump raised it again several times in the months and years since, according to the newspaper.
One unnamed former senior Pentagon official told the Post, "It's an idea that's been batted around for a while...It's not a hard or particularly complicated idea to come up with."
More measured aides are said to have talked Trump down from extreme decisions early in his presidency, on a range of foreign policy issues from Iran to NATO to Middle East troop deployments.
One former senior administration official told the Post, "He'd get spun up, and if you bought some time, you could get him calmed down, and then explain to him what his decision might do."
But Trump has slowly replaced dissenters with loyalists who lean towards the hawkish end of the spectrum. Among them are figures like Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Pompeo in particular has been named as a key proponent of Soleimani's assassination, reportedly declaring he would take the general "off the battlefield" before retiring.
Trump, Pompeo and other officials have maintained that Soleimani was killed to stop imminent attacks against American targets in the Middle East. Trump said Friday that the major general was planning to hit four U.S. embassies. The administration is yet to provide any evidence to support the assertion.
Esper appeared to contradict the commander in chief on Sunday, telling NBC News he had seen no evidence pointing to imminent threats on four embassies.
He did, however, say, "I share the president's view that probably, my expectation was they were going to go after our embassies."
NBC News published a separate report on Monday—citing five current and former senior administration officials—saying Trump pre-approved the kill order on Soleimani in June in the event that Iranian action killed any Americans.
The president was still required to give final sign-off to the Baghdad operation that killed the Iranian commander.
The decision was reportedly made after Iran shot down a U.S. drone following weeks of tensions around the Persian Gulf, which included multiple attacks on commercial shipping that the U.S. blamed on Iran.
NBC reported that then-National Security Advisor John Bolton urged the president to assassinate Soleimani right away, but Trump said he would only go through with the plan if an American was killed. NBC said Pompeo also supported the plan to kill Soleimani in June.
Both the Post and NBC reports undermine the White House assertion that the decision to kill Soleimani was only taken in response to imminent threats against Americans in the Middle East.
The National Security Council did not provide an on-the-record statement when asked to comment on the reports by Newsweek. The State Department referred queries to the White House, which did not immediately respond to a separate request for comment.
This file photo shows President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during a cabinet meeting in the White House October 21, 2019 in Washington, D.C.
