OPINION | This article contains political commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Senior national security officials say they have been briefed about a threat that a plane would crash into the Capitol in Washington D.C. and say that the threat did not seem credible, according to Fox News.
“We are flying a plane into the Capitol on Wednesday, Soleimani will be avenged.”
The threat referred to Qassem Soleimani—the Iranian general killed in Iraq last year in a U.S. airstrike ordered by President Trump.
“We’re not overly concerned,” the official said.
FBI said it “takes all threats of violence to public safety seriously.”
A year ago today, 𝘌𝘯𝘦𝘮𝘺 #1 of extremist terrorists was cowardly assassinated by the terrorist-in-chief.
As our region solemnly commemorates his one year passing, a reminder that the only beneficiary of his murder is Daesh (ISIS), which has only increased its activity since. pic.twitter.com/bt8pgDvXar
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) January 3, 2021
Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif remembered Soleimani, saying he was “cowardly assassinated by the terrorist-in-chief.”
Tehran retaliated with an airstrike of its own on a military base in Iraq, resulting in concussions for up to 100 U.S. troops.
From Fox News:
American officials deemed Soleimani — the head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ elite Quds Force — as dangerous as the Islamic State and held him responsible for the deaths of hundreds of U.S. troops.
A national security official told Fox News that “relevant agencies” were briefed on Tuesday’s incident and that “while it is possible it is a hoax, it is being taken seriously.”
And a senior Defense official told Fox News that they take “all threats seriously,” but that “this does not seem to be credible, though we’ll continue to assess.”
— Advertisement — Another senior U.S. official told Fox News that the threat “doesn’t seem legit.”