<span style="color: #222222;">United States National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien has said that President Donald Trump's decision to kill Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards Commander General Qasem Soleimani was designed to prevent further bloodshed and was defensive in nature. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">He was briefing reporters on the US operation in a conference call in Washington yesterday.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"><br />'' Mr O'Brien alleged that Soleimani, who was travelling around the Middle East, had just come to Iraq from Damascus. He was planning attacks on American soldiers and diplomats.</span><br />'' <span style="color: #222222;"><br />'' Soleimani was the head of Iran's elite al-Quds force and architect of its regional security apparatus. He was killed yesterday at the Baghdad International Airport. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The strike also killed the Deputy Chief of Iraq's powerful Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary force and some local Iran-backed militias.<br />''<br />''Meanwhile, Iran has pledged retaliation, which the Trump administration deemed a very poor decision.   </span><br />