On 3 January 2020, amid rising tensions between the United States and Iran, the U.S.

carried
out a drone strike on a convoy traveling near Baghdad International Airport, killing Iranian
Major General Qasem Soleimani of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), commander
of the Quds Force, which is designated a terrorist organization by the United States,[4][5]
Canada,[6] Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.[7] Nine other passengers, including the deputy chairman
of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a designated terrorist,[8]
were also killed.

The strike occurred during the 2019–20 Persian Gulf crisis, which began after the U.S. withdrew
from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran in 2018, reimposed sanctions, and accused Iranian
elements of fomenting a campaign to harass U.S. forces in the region. On 27 December 2019,
the K-1 Air Base in Iraq, which hosts Iraqi and U.S. personnel, was attacked, killing an American
contractor. The U.S. responded by launching airstrikes across Iraq and Syria, killing 25 Iran-
backed Kata'ib Hezbollah militiamen. Days later, Shia militiamen and their supporters retaliated
by attacking the U.S. embassy in the Green Zone.

The United States asserted that the strike was approved by U.S. President Donald Trump to
disrupt an "imminent attack" and the United States Department of Defense issued a statement
that it was decisive "defensive action" for prevention of further attacks on American diplomats
and military personnel, while Iran maintains that it was an act of "state terrorism". Iraq said the
attack undermined its national sovereignty, was a breach of its agreement with the U.S. and an
act of aggression against its officials. On 5 January 2020, the Iraqi parliament passed a
resolution to expel all foreign troops from its territory