DC Mayor: ‘No immediate threats’ to city after Soleimani strike

Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser said there are no immediate threats to the nation’s capital in the aftermath of a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad that killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.

“While there are no immediate threats to the District of Columbia, we remain vigilant and [Metropolitan Police Department] & [Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency] will remain in close contact with regional and federal partners to monitor evolving events — both at home and abroad,” Bowser said in a statement to Fox 5. 

“As always, we remind members of the public if they see something, say something by contacting law enforcement of any suspicious activity,” she added.

The remarks came after the Pentagon launched an airstrike against Soleimani in Baghdad late Thursday, killing him as well as an unknown number of Iran-backed militia fighters. 

Soleimani was a long-feared adversary of the U.S., directing Iran-backed armed groups across the Middle East and beyond. He is suspected of being responsible, through Tehran-linked militias, for hundreds of U.S. casualties in Iraq since the 2003 invasion. 

The attack on Soleimani raised fears in the U.S. that Iran could tap its militias to target U.S. interests in response to the strike, particularly after Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed “harsh retaliation” over the killing. 

“If this turns into a full-scale shooting war, and right now it’s the direction it’s going in, we would be fools to assume that this doesn’t end up with multiple acts of terror here in the United States eventually,” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Friday.