On the same night the US military killed Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani, they unsuccessfully targeted another senior Iranian military official in Yemen, according to a US official with knowledge of the events and another source familiar.
The sources would not give any details about the mission or how the US had attempted to carry it out. The US official said to the best of their knowledge there is no broader operation to decapitate the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps-Quds force leadership at this time.
In a statement to CNN, Pentagon spokeswoman Cmdr. Rebecca Rebarich acknowledged seeing the report but declined to offer any additional information.
"We have seen the report of a January 2 airstrike in Yemen, which is long-understood as a safe space for terrorists and other adversaries to the United States.
"We have seen the report of a January 2 airstrike in Yemen, which is long-understood as a safe space for terrorists and other adversaries to the United States.
Despite the Pentagon's assertion, the Department of Defense and US Central Command have routinely issued on-the-record statements about US strikes in Yemen.
The Washington Post was first to report the operation took place.
According to the Post, the Iranian target was Abdul Reza Shahlai, a financier and key commander of Iran's Quds Force which is an elite wing of the Iranian military operating throughout the Middle East.
In December, State Department Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook announced the administration was offering "up to $15 million for information on the financial activities, networks, and associates of Abdul Reza Shahlai."
News of an additional operation comes as top US national security officials continue to defend the Trump administration's claim that it killed Soleimani in response to an impending threat to American lives, but the lack of evidence provided to lawmakers and the public has fueled lingering skepticism about whether the strike was justified.
Lawmakers demand answers
The new development is already raising more questions about the administration's explanation for killing Soleimani.
"Congress needs answers. What was the full extent of the Trump administration's plans to kill Iranian officials? How does the attempted killing in Yemen have anything to do with an imminent threat?" Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna of California tweeted Friday reacting to the news.
The Pentagon has blamed Soleimani and the Quds Force for attacks on coalition bases in Iraq in recent months, including the December 27 strike that killed an American contractor and Iraqi personnel. Soleimani was also blamed for the December 31 US Embassy attack in Baghdad, and the US military said he was responsible for killing hundreds in his time as a commander and wounding thousands more.
"We caught a total monster. We took them out. And that should have happened a long time ago. We did it because they were looking to blow up our embassy," President Donald Trump told reporters Thursday.
"We also did it for other reasons that were very obvious. Somebody died ... people were badly wounded just a week before. And we did it. We had a shot at it ... that was the end of a monster," Trump added, referring to a recent rocket attack by an Iranian-backed militia group in Iraq, Khatib Hezbollah, that killed an American contractor and wounded several US military personnel.
Trump claimed in an interview with Fox News Friday that Soleimani was targeting four embassies before he was killed.
The President's comments came after two prominent Senate Republicans and congressional Democrats on Wednesday slammed the administration's
briefing on the reasoning for the strike following briefings by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper.
Multiple lawmakers said they saw no specific intelligence that pointed to an imminent threat from Soleimani that justified the strike.
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Source: CNN
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