Trump was reportedly worried he looked weak on Iran before ordering airstrike against Soleimani

(Image credit: JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

last updated 5 January 2020

One of the major questions in the wake of President Trump's order to kill Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani via airstrike concerns the timing of the action. In short, why now?

Soleimani was a powerful strategic adversary of the U.S., who has been viewed as a national security threat and has been accused of orchestrating numerous acts of violence against the U.S. But Washington has held steady in the past.

Well, The Washington Post reports U.S. officials said one reason Trump decided to act this time was because his advisers told him that not sending a message — as was the case after Iran was accused of mining ships, shooting down a U.S. drone, and attacking a Saudi Arabian oil facility — would mean Iran might "think they can get by with anything." Trump also reportedly didn't love the media coverage he received after his previous decisions and feared that reports of his internal deliberations made him look weak.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.