A Kuwaiti newspaper reported last week that Washington gave Israel the green light to assassinate terror mastermind Qassem Soleimani, commander of Iran’s Quds Force (which has been designated a terrorist organization).

New York Times columnist Bret Stephens pointed out a disturbing detail in the story that has long been rumored but has gone largely unreported in the American press:

https://twitter.com/BretStephensNYT/status/948653540439928837

According to the report, Israel was “on the verge” of assassinating Soleimani three years ago near Damascus, but the Obama administration warned Iranian leadership of the plan, effectively quashing the operation. The incident reportedly “sparked a sharp disagreement between the Israeli and American security and intelligence apparatuses regarding the issue.”

Stephens tagged former Obama deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes in his tweet, but it was ignored until Obama’s former National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor saw it on Wednesday:

Yeah WTF Ben? Immediately confirm or deny this totally unsubstantiated claim and then tell us why you don't support assassinations. — Tommy Vietor (@TVietor08) January 10, 2018

Stephens responded by noting dryly that the Iran Contra scandal started in a similar way, and that the Obama administration certainly had no objection to assassinations when it came to other terrorists:

https://twitter.com/BretStephensNYT/status/951216401301299202

Vieter, who drove Obama’s press van before he became president, responded thus:

Yeah @BretStephensNYT taking out Osama bin Laden is the same as assassinating an Iranian political leader. https://t.co/PKRWFjgZPW — Tommy Vietor (@TVietor08) January 10, 2018

Stephens seemed taken aback:

https://twitter.com/BretStephensNYT/status/951237360934621185

Indeed, as the Washington Times reported in 2015, Shiite militants under Qassem Soleimani’s command are responsible for more than 500 U.S. service member deaths in Iraq between 2005-2011.

The Quds forces, led by Gen. Qassem Soleimani, set up factories to produce the weapon, which unleashes rocket-type projectiles that penetrate American armored vehicles. As head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, Gen. Soleimani is Iran’s top terrorist commander, committed to the downfall of Israel and the United States and the destabilization of governments in the region.

But Vieter wasn’t through digging. His next tweet all but confirmed the story.

We were well aware of the dangers posed by QS and the IRGC. Obama sanctioned them repeatedly, among other deterrents. But an assassination of QS by Israel would be destabilizing to put it mildly. — Tommy Vietor (@TVietor08) January 10, 2018

Holy shit. They really did it. https://t.co/bGGf7DHtHK — Jonathan Greenberg (@JGreenbergSez) January 11, 2018

https://twitter.com/BretStephensNYT/status/951241640861143041

Ben Rhodes finally weighed in, but it was too late.