Esper says killed Iranian general's 'time was due'

Defense Secretary Mark Esper said today the United States wants to "de-escalate" tensions with Iran after President Trump ordered an airstrike that killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in Iraq last week.

"We are not looking to start a war with Iran, but we are prepared to finish one," Esper said at the Pentagon.

The secretary said Soleimani was a "legitimate target" who was "clearly on the battlefield" planning military operations against the United States.

"His time was due," Esper said.

Now, the defense secretary said, the Trump administration wants Tehran to "sit down" with the United States and find a diplomatic solution.

Esper also disputed media reports quoting unnamed government officials who called the Trump administration's claim of classified intelligence linking Soleimani to an imminent threat against Americans "razor thin."

Esper said it was a matter of "days, for sure," before Soleimani’s planned attack against the United States played out.

Details about the intelligence that bolstered the case for a U.S. airstrike that killed Soleimani at a Baghdad airport have yet to be publicly disclosed, though some members of Congress are scheduled to receive classified briefings.

Esper also said U.S. troops will not be withdrawn from Iraq, despite the surfacing of an unsigned "draft letter" that indicated American forces would soon depart.

"Our policy has not changed," he said. "We are not leaving Iraq."

Esper said a recent vote in the Iraqi parliament directing U.S. forces to withdraw is "non-binding," noting many lawmakers boycotted the vote.

Additionally, Esper said the U.S. military will continue to follow the international laws of armed conflict, despite a tweet from President Trump saying the United States planned to target Iranian cultural sites should Tehran retaliate militarily for Soleimani’s killing, an action that would be considered a war crime.

"I'm fully confident the commander-in-chief would not give us an illegal order," Esper said.