Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says President Donald Trump is "worthy of all appreciation" for ordering the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force and mastermind of its regional security strategy, was killed in an airstrike early Friday near the Iraqi capital's international airport that has caused regional tensions to soar.
Netanyahu told his cabinet Sunday that Soleimani "initiated, planned and carried out many terror attacks" in the Middle East and beyond. Israel has long accused Soleimani of being the mastermind of Iran's belligerency in the region.
"Qassem Soleimani brought about the death of many American citizens and many other innocents in recent decades and at present," Netanyahu said. "President Trump is deserving of all esteem for taking determined, strong and quick action."
Netanyahu said Israel "fully stands" alongside the United States in its current campaign against Iran.
Netanyahu has been among the strongest voices against Iran's Islamic rulers in recent years. The Israeli leader pushed hard against the nuclear deal Western powers signed with Tehran in 2015 and which Trump later reversed.
The United States killed Soleimani in a drone airstrike at Baghdad's international airport early Friday. The Iranian commander was widely seen as the architect of Tehran's proxy wars in the Middle East.