Sounds like Trump is trying to head off retaliation and this is another way to help ensure against that.
Via Fox News:
Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani is dead because he miscalculated how President Trump would respond to an impending attack against Americans in Iraq, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Friday on “Fox & Friends.”
“The intelligence was that Soleimani was orchestrating chaos in Iraq at our expense and throughout the region,” Graham explained. “The president was informed of these potential attacks and he acted. This was a defensive strike to neutralize future attacks that were planned and executed by Soleimani and the popular mobilization front: the Shiite militias in Iraq.”
Graham said Trump acted to prevent “holy hell” from occurring in Iraq and the region and Soleimani did not think the United States would take such a bold action.
“He’s not dead today because of what he did in the past, he’s dead today because he miscalculated what President Trump would do regarding future attacks,” said Graham in a phone interview.