Trump: Soleimani no longer ‘a monster … he’s dead’

President Trump on Tuesday called Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani “a monster” and said the US was “totally prepared” for any retaliation from Iran over his killing in a US drone strike.

Asked about the justification for the airstrike, the president mentioned Soleimani’s past attacks against Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“In our case it was retaliation. He was a monster. And he’s no longer a monster. He’s dead,” the commander in chief said in the Oval Office during an appearance with the prime minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

”I knew the past, his past, was horrible. He was a terrorist. He was so designated by President Obama. We saved a lot of lives by terminating his life. A lot of lives saved. They were planning something, and you’re going to be hearing about it or at least various people in Congress are going to be hearing about it tomorrow,” he continued, without offering details.

The president also said he would obey the law when it came to Iran’s cultural treasures, which he had earlier threatened to target — but sounded less than enthused about that course of action.

“They’re allowed to kill our people, they’re allowed to maim our people, they’re allowed to blow up everything that we have — and there’s nothing that stops them,” he said.

“And we are, according to various laws, supposed to be very careful with their cultural heritage. And you know what, if that’s what the law is — I like to obey the law. But think of it — they kill our people. They blow up our people, then we have to be gentle with their cultural institutions?  But I’m OK with it. It’s OK with me,” he continued.

The president also responded to reports that the Iraqi government wants US troops to leave the country.

“At some point we want to get out but this isn’t the right point,” he said, adding that the US would need to be reimbursed for the cost of the US embassy in Baghdad and other expenses related to fighting ISIS.

“We’ve spent tremendous amounts of money building airports, but we’ll work something out,” he said.

And he added that he would only impose sanctions on Iraq if they didn’t treat the US “with respect.”

Mitsotakis was joined by his wife, Mareva Grabowski-Mitsotakis, a former Deutsche Bank executive and entrepreneur.

They met as students at Harvard Business School, where both earned MBAs.