(WAND) - After President Trump ordered an air strike that killed Iran's top military commander on Thursday, Illinois civic leaders on both sides of the aisle reacted to the move.
 
"Qassem Soleimani has been killed and his bloody rampage is now forever gone," President Trump said on Friday. "He was plotting attacks against Americans, but now we've insured that his atrocities have been stopped for good. They are stopped for good. I don't know if you know what was happening, but he was planning a major attack, and we got him."
 
Congressman Rodney Davis (R-Illinois) told WAND he agrees with the President's assessment that Soleimani was planning attacks on American soil.
 
"(Soleimani) is not a good guy," Davis said. "It was a good move that the President made, and I'm glad he's not here on this earth anymore."
 
"President Trump was right to act decisively to deliver the justice Soleimani deserved and protect Americans at home and abroad," Congressman Darin LaHood.
 
On the other side of the aisle, congressional Democrats acknowledge that Soleimani was a threat, but believe the strike on him risks provoking an escalation of violence, and are condemning the president for not getting authorization to do so from Congress.
 
"There is no question that Iranian Major General Soleimani posed a threat to the free world, but there is also no question that the President—any President—does not have Constitutional authority to draw the United States into a war without prior Congressional approval," said Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois).
 
“The killing of Iranian General Soleimani invites even further escalation by a president who has a poor record of judgement in dealing with world powers," said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois).
 
Indicators of rising tensions between the U.S. and Iran on Friday included the announcement that 3,000 American soldiers will be sent into the Middle East, and Iran President Hassan Rouhani tweeted, "the great nation of Iran will take revenge for this heinous crime".