Speaking at the Faith and Freedom Coalition conference, Trump described the weeks of joint planning that had gone into the operation and the last-minute decision by Israel to step back.
He said that rather than abandon the mission, he turned to his generals and asked whether American forces could execute it without their partner. He said the generals responded with full confidence, and Soleimani was killed the following day.
He described the intelligence the United States had gathered on Soleimani as exceptionally detailed, saying they knew his exact movements, timing, and route on the night of the strike.
In his words, President Trump said, "Israel was supposed to do it with us. And the night before that took place, we heard from Israel that they will not be doing it.
"They don't want to do it. And I said to a couple of generals that we had who were very good, 'What do you think, generals? Can we do it?' Because we worked on it for 30 days, worked on it with Israel.
"They said, 'We'll do it, sir. We'll do it better.' And he was dead the next day. He was dead in the valley of death," he said.
Trump added that Soleimani had been preparing to strike five American military installations and that the intelligence community had full visibility into his plans and movements.
He described the killing as one of the most consequential events in the Middle East in 100 years, saying people across the region recognized the significance of removing someone who had been such a dominant and feared figure.
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