Donald Trump
Donald TrumpReuters

US President Donald Trump told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham in an interview on Friday that the imminent threat from Iran that provoked the United States to kill Iranian General Qassem Soleimani involved planned attacks on four US embassies.

Asked specifically what was targeted, Trump revealed, “We will tell you that probably it was going to be the embassy in Baghdad.”

Pressed on whether large-scale attacks were planned for other embassies, the president said, “I can reveal that I believe it probably would’ve been four embassies.”

The comments come amid confusion over whether additional attacks were being planned at the US embassy in Baghdad, which was stormed by Iranian-backed Iraqi militants on December 31, after Trump told reporters Thursday that the US killed Soleimani because “they were looking to blow up our embassy.”

The administration has said that that strike was an act of self-defense to prevent what it has described as an “imminent threat” against US interests and troops.

In Friday's interview with Ingraham, the president was also asked about whether the Iraqi backlash to the Soleimani strike could lead to U.S. troops leaving Iraq.

“I’m OK with it,” Trump replied, though he dismissed recent calls from Iraqi officials to begin planning for the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq.

“That’s what they (the Iraqis) say publicly. They don’t say that privately,” Trump said.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)