(FILES) In this file photo taken on June 22, 2019, US President Donald Trump speaks to the media prior to departing on Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC. - Trump said January 3, 2020, that Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani -- who was assassinated in a US strike -- should have been killed long before. In his first substantial comments on the operation, carried out earlier Friday at Baghdad's international airport, Trump tweeted that Soleimani "should have been taken out many years ago!" Soleimani "has killed or badly wounded thousands of Americans over an extended period of time, and was plotting to kill many more...but got caught!" Trump said. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)