“Soleimani was an evil genius, he had a lot of American blood on his hands,” Morell said. “The world is a better place without him. The problem is that comes at a very high cost. Number one, there will be dead Americans, dead civilian Americans, as a result of this. Possibly over the next few days in any place where Iran has its proxies, Iraq is the most likely place, but also Lebanon, Bahrain, other places in the Middle East.”

Morell said Iran would lose the battle if they responded with a military strike on U.S. forces in the region. He said he thinks Iran’s proxies throughout the region will go after civilians, but that’s not all.

“At a time and place of their choosing, they’re going to conduct a terrorist strike that kills a senior American official,” Morell said. “And that could be anywhere in the world.”

Such an attack could occur on American soil, he said.