When President Trump’s national security team came to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on Monday, they weren’t expecting him to approve an operation to kill Gen. Qassem Suleimani.

Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo, Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had gone to Palm Beach to brief Trump on airstrikes the Pentagon had just carried out in Iraq and Syria against Iranian-sponsored Shiite militia groups.

One briefing slide shown to Trump listed several follow-up steps the U.S. could take, among them targeting Suleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ elite Quds Force, according to a senior U.S. official familiar with the discussions who was not authorized to talk about the meeting on the record.

1 / 30 The coffins of Gen. Qassem Suleimani and others who were killed in Iraq by a U.S. drone strike are carried on a truck surrounded by mourners Jan. 6 in Tehran. (Ebrahim Noroozi / Associated Press) 2 / 30 Mourners attend the funeral for Gen. Qassem Suleimani in Tehran. (Associated Press) 3 / 30 Former Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps chief Mohamad Ali Jafari prays over Suleimani’s coffin. (Handout) 4 / 30 Enghelab Square in Tehran during the funeral procession for Suleimani and others killed in the U.S. airstrike. (Associated Press) 5 / 30 Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,, fourth from left, leads a prayer during the funeral. (Associated Press) 6 / 30 Iranian lawmakers chant anti-American and anti-Israeli slogans to protest against the U.S. killing of Iranian top general Qassem Suleimani, at the start of an open session of parliament in Tehran, Iran. (Mohammad Hassanzadeh/Associated Press) 7 / 30 Police estimated the funeral turnout in Tehran to be in the millions. (Abedin Taherkenareh / EPA/Shutterstock) 8 / 30 Mourners carry the coffin of slain Iraqi paramilitary chief Abu Mahdi Muhandis towards the Imam Ali Shrine in the shrine city of Najaf in central Iraq during a funeral procession. (Haidar Hamdani / AFP/Getty Images) 9 / 30 Equipment assigned to 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division is loaded into aircraft from Ft. Bragg, N.C. (Zachary Vandyke / U.S. Department of Defense) 10 / 30 Mourners carry the coffins of slain Iraqi paramilitary chief Abu Mahdi Muhandis, Iranian military commander Qassem Suleimani and eight others Jan. 4 in Najaf, Iraq. (Haidar Hamdani / AFP/Getty Images) 11 / 30 Anti-war activists march Jan. 4 from the White House to the Trump International Hotel in Washington. (Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP/Getty Images) 12 / 30 Mourners carry the coffin of slain Iraqi paramilitary chief Abu Mahdi Muhandis in Najaf, Iraq. (Haidar Hamdani / AFP/Getty Images) 13 / 30 U.S. troops from the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division rest Jan. 4 at Ft. Bragg before deployment. (Andrew Craft / Getty Images) 14 / 30 Thousands march in Tehran after the death of Gen. Qassem Suleimani, head of the elite Quds Force, in a U.S. airstrike. (Abedin Taherkenareh / EPA/Shutterstock) 15 / 30 President Trump gives a statement from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. (Jim Watson / AFP/Getty Images) 16 / 30 Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei visits Suleimani’s family. (AFP/Getty Images) 17 / 30 Iranians burn a U.S. flag during a protest in Tehran to condemn Suleimani’s killing. (Abedin Taherkenareh / EPA/Shutterstock) 18 / 30 Suleimani in September 2018. (Iranian Supreme Leader’s Office) 19 / 30 Iraqi anti-government protesters celebrate in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square after hearing the news of the airstrike that killed Suleimani. (AFP ) 20 / 30 The attack at Baghdad’s international airport also killed Abu Mahdi Muhandis, deputy commander of Iran-backed militias in Iraq known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, and six other people, according to Iraqi security officials. (Handout) 21 / 30 Protesters burn property in front of the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad on Tuesday. (Khalid Mohammed / Associated Press) 22 / 30 Iraqi protesters use a plumbing pipe to break the bulletproof glass of the U.S. Embassy’s windows. (Ahmad al-Rubaye / AFP/Getty Images) 23 / 30 Smoke rises behind protesters at the embassy. (Khalid Mohammed / Associated Press) 24 / 30 Protesters pry the U.S. Embassy plaque from the entrance of the compound. (Ahmad al-Rubaye / AFP/Getty Images ) 25 / 30 Demonstrators scale a wall to reach the U.S. Embassy grounds in Baghdad. (Ahmad al-Rubaye / AFP/Getty Images) 26 / 30 Smoke pours from the embassy entrance. (Ahmad al-Rubaye / AFP/Getty Images) 27 / 30 A man waves an Iraqi national flag as he exits a burning room at the U.S. Embassy compound. (AFP/Getty Images) 28 / 30 Protesters wave militia flags during the embassy siege. (Associated Press) 29 / 30 A fire burns during the embassy protest. (Khalid Mohammed / Associated Press) 30 / 30 An Iraqi militia leader takes a selfie at a gate to the U.S. Embassy during the siege. (Ahmad al-Rubaye / AFP/Getty Images )


Unexpectedly, Trump chose that option, the official said, adding that the president’s decision was spurred on in part by Iran hawks among his advisors.

That meant the Pentagon suddenly faced the daunting task of carrying out Trump’s orders.

The first hint that further U.S. action was possible came only minutes after the end of the meeting with Trump.

“In our discussion today with the president, we discussed with him other options that are available,” Esper told reporters. “And I would note also that we will take additional actions as necessary.”

Suleimani wasn’t mentioned publicly as a possible target. But behind the scenes, Trump’s decision set off a furious effort by the Pentagon, CIA and others to locate the Iranian general and put in place military assets to kill him.


U.S. intelligence agencies, which had been tracking Suleimani for years, knew he was on an extended Middle East trip that had taken him to Lebanon and Syria. He would be flying from Damascus to Baghdad within days, they learned.

He seemed unusually unconcerned about covering his tracks, officials noted. He was traveling from Syria to Baghdad on a flight that was not secret, Iranian officials said Friday, ostensibly for meetings with Iraqi officials.

But U.S. officials claimed Friday that Suleimani’s trip had a more nefarious purpose: He was in the final stages of planning major attacks against U.S. facilities in several Middle East countries, they said.


“He was personally going to a few locations for final planning authority for what we assessed to be something big,” said the officials, who briefed reporters under ground rules that didn’t allow them to be identified. The specific targets were unclear and officials declined to describe the evidence that backed up their assessment.

He had already been linked to a Dec. 27 rocket attack that killed an America military contractor near Kirkuk, Iraq. In the days before Suleimani arrived in Baghdad, U.S. officials blamed him for orchestrating violent protests at the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad.

A senior State Department official said new intelligence indicated Suleimani was plotting attacks on American diplomats, military personnel and facilities that house Americans in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq.


“There was consensus in the president’s national security cabinet that the risk of doing nothing was unacceptable given the intelligence and given the effectiveness that Suleimani presents,” the official said.

When Suleimani arrived in Baghdad on Thursday, a U.S drone and other military aircraft were circling near Baghdad International Airport. Sulaimani and several members of a pro-Iranian military got into two vehicles and were riding on the airport road toward downtown Baghdad when missiles fired from the drone struck.

Both vehicles were engulfed in flames.

According to Iraqi officials, rescuers identified Suleimani’s body among the casualties by the blood-red ring he always wore that was still attached to his ash-covered left hand.


Times staff writer Tracy Wilkinson contributed to this report.