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Trump’s decision to kill a man regarded as the second most powerful person in Iran was hailed by his allies as one of his boldest strokes in foreign policy and lambasted by his critics as likely his most reckless.

That the attack came two days into Trump’s re-election year, and while he faces an impeachment trial in the Senate, raised immediate suspicion among his opponents that his decision was politically motivated. And the repercussions, extending to the possibility of war, are unknown.

As a private citizen in 2011, Trump publicly accused President Barack Obama of planning war against Iran in order to secure his re-election because “he’s weak and he’s ineffective.”

But as president, Trump has shown — first by his withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria in September and now with the strike on Soleimani — that he will act in what he believes are the best interests of the country even in the face of potential consequences he and his advisers can in no way confidently predict.

Photo by Handout and Ahmad al-Rubaye/Iranian Supreme Leader's website/AFP via Getty Images

Bracing for Retaliation

In Syria, there was little planning for the aftermath. The White House was braced for potential Iranian retaliation within U.S. borders, two officials said. One said that the government was on heightened alert, but the details of the administration’s preparations weren’t immediately clear.

Oil prices spiked more than 4 per cent in the immediate aftermath of the attack.

Preceding the strike, Trump’s government fell into silence. A Washington businessman who had scheduled dinner with a White House aide staying at the president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, said the meal was suddenly canceled and Trump aides went dark.