Trump mistake-prone response comes despite his effort to demonstrate strong and decisive leadership of opinion in General Soleimani’s assassination, The Washington Post said in an editorial Tuesday.

Trump and top US officials have refused to provide details of what prompted the decision to attack Soleimani and have offered conflicting accounts over whether the Iranian commander was coordinating imminent attacks on US facilities in the Middle East, the Post said.

The lack of clear information continued late Tuesday in Washington even after Iran retaliated for Soleimani’s death with missile attacks on US military bases in Iraq, the report said.

The White House first announced Tuesday night that Trump or other senior administration officials would make no public remarks in response to the retaliation. Hours later, Trump tweeted that he would address the nation Wednesday morning.

The Trump administration was also embarrassed after the US Defense Department sent a letter to Iraqi officials this week stating the US military would comply with the prime minister’s demand to pull US troops out of the country, only to call it a draft copy released by mistake.

The US military carried out an airstrike on the direction of Trump at Baghdad’s international airport early on Friday, assassinating Soleimani and the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, as well as eight other companions.

Early on Wednesday, Iran responded to the assassination of Soleimani, the Middle East’s most prominent anti-terror commander, striking the American airbase of Ain al-Assad in Anbar province in western Iraq and another in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.

Trump caused an international condemnation after threatening to attack Iranian cultural sites if Tehran retaliates for the top general’s assassination. He had to retreat Tuesday following statements from US Defense Secretary Mark Esper and other officials rejecting such actions as illegal.

Senior US officials also said Trump had surprised his own aides by publicly threatening to impose sanctions against Iraq if the American troops there are forced out of the country.

The flurry of events has led to a sense of confusion in the White House and a lack of clarity following the US assassination. Two administration officials conceded that some of Trump’s messages over the weekend were unhelpful.

Even Washington’s allies, including Israel and several European nations, expressed concerns over the military strike, with some objecting outright and complaining they were not consulted.

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“This resolution on war powers is similar to the resolution introduced by Senator Tim Kaine in the Senate,” US House speaker said in a statement late on Sunday, Reuters reported.

“It reasserts Congress’s long-established oversight responsibilities by mandating that if no further Congressional action is taken, the Administration’s military hostilities with regard to Iran cease within 30 days.”

The resolution is likely to win approval in the Democratic-led House, but prospects for passage are less certain in the Senate, which is controlled by Trump’s fellow Republicans, many of whom have said they support the president’s action on Iran.

It came as Iraq’s parliament called for the US and other foreign troops to leave as the backlash against the US killing on Friday of a top Iranian general grew, and Trump doubled down on threats to target Iranian cultural sites if Iran retaliates.

Trump also threatened sanctions against Iraq and said that if US troops were required to leave, Iraq’s government would have to pay Washington for the cost of a “very extraordinarily expensive” airbase there

Commander of IRGC Quds Force General Qassem Soleimani, the deputy head of Iraq’s Hashd al-Shaabi, and a number of their entourage were killed in a strike by American drones near Baghdad International Airport in the early hours of Friday.

The White House and the Pentagon confirmed the assassination of General Soleimani in Iraq, saying the attack was carried out at the direction of Trump.

In a message on Friday morning, the Leader warned that harsh revenge awaits the criminals behind the martyrdom of General Soleimani.

Ayatollah Khamenei also reminded all friends and enemies of the Iranian general that the resistance path will continue vigorously, stressing that continued battle and ultimate victory will disappoint the murderers and criminals.

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