Pentagon in strike announcement also said that Soleimani was planning more attacks so it was a preemptive strike as such as anything too.
Via Daily Wire:
Secretary Of Defense Mark T. Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley told reporters on Thursday that “the game has changed” with how the United States will respond to Iranian aggression in the region, warning that further Iranian aggression against the U.S. “will run into a buzz saw.”
The remarks by Esper and Milley happened during a press gaggle before an American MQ-9 Reaper drone fired missiles at a convoy of terrorists that was leaving Baghdad International Airport.
The strike incurred the deaths of Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force leader Qassim Suleimani and top Iraqi paramilitary commander Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes, who headed the Iranian-linked Popular Mobilization Forces. The IRGC and Quds Force are both designated terrorist organizations.