(CNN) President Donald Trump said Friday that he authorized a recent precision strike against the commander of Iran's security and intelligence services because he was plotting "imminent and sinister attacks" on Americans.

"We caught him in the act and terminated him," Trump said Friday, a day after the strike that killed Qasem Soleimani at a Baghdad airport.

Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago estate that Soleimani should have been taken out by his predecessors and cast his decision as one of deterrence rather than aggression.

"We took action last night to stop a war. We did not take action to start a war," Trump said.

Though Trump on Friday sought to cast his decision to take out the leader of Iran's security and intelligence services as prevention of war, he continued to threaten Iran's leaders with further strikes should they continue with destabilizing actions in the region.

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