President Trump ordered an airstrike in Baghdad that killed Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds military force and one of the most powerful figures in the Islamic Republic. For many years Soleimani, a combat veteran of the Iran-Iraq war of 1980, had overseen Iran–backed militias in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and other countries in the region. President Trump announced after the strike that Soleimani's "reign of terror is over" and his death will prevent further attacks on Americans.