quote:

U.S. forces launched a secret mission against a senior Iranian military official in Yemen the same day that the U.S. military killed a top Iranian commander in Iraq’s capitol, The Washington Post reported on Friday.

Four U.S. officials told the Post that the military executed a strike to target Abdul Reza Shahlai — a Yemen-based financial backer and high-ranking member of Iran’s Quds Force — but the unsuccessful mission did not kill him.

The effort came the same day that the Trump administration went ahead with the drone strike to kill Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds.

Administration officials have since defended the move — which has ratcheted up tensions between Washington and Tehran — saying intelligence suggested that Soleimani was plotting a “large-scale” attack that threatened U.S. Embassies, among other American facilities.

The missions, when shown together, appear to reflect a larger operation from the administration on the Iran regime than previously disclosed.

U.S. officials would not offer many details on the strike against Shahlai other than the mission remains highly classified, that it was authorized around the same time that Soleimani’s was, and that it was not successful.

“If we had killed him, we’d be bragging about it that same night,” a senior U.S. official told the Post.

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How stupid does this administration think we are?