Less than 24 hours after a U.S. airstrike killed a top Iranian commander near the Baghdad airport in Iraq, Connecticut's Democratic senators, Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy, said Trump administration officials must appear before Congress to outline the justification for the attack and to request authorization for any future military action against Iran.

What was supposed to be a press conference on the still unscheduled Trump impeachment trial in the Senate turned instead into the senators' condemnation of the killing of Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who led the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, and what they see as the potentially grim aftermath.

"There is no question, no doubt that Soleimani was a bad actor, an enemy of the United States with American blood on his hands," Blumenthal said in Hartford, with Murphy standing next to him. "The concern I have now is American security, the safety of Americans in the region and around the world, men and women in uniform, our diplomats and ordinary citizens."

Murphy framed it this way: "The question we have to be asking ourselves today is whether Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani is more dangerous to the United States alive or dead as a martyr who will now rally the Iranian government and Iranian proxies around the region to do even greater harm to American interests."

The Trump administration said the strike was "in response to imminent threats to American lives." President Donald Trump told reporters Friday afternoon from his resort in West Palm Beach, Fla., that he'd ordered the strike to stop a war, not start one.

"My guess is that the assassination of Soleimani will lead to greater harm to U.S. personnel, U.S. citizens and U.S. interests," Murphy said earlier Friday. "That is why previous Democratic and Republican administrations chose not to assassinate Soleimani despite their knowledge of his complicity in harm against United States' interests."

Murphy equated the killing of Soleimani to the Iranians assassinating the U.S. secretary of defense.

"We would consider that an act of war and we would respond disproportionately," he said. "We need to expect that the Iranians will also act disproportionately."

Iran quickly vowed "harsh retaliation" in response to the killing of Soleimani. Meanwhile, the U.S. is sending about 3,000 additional Army troops to Middle East as reinforcements.

Blumenthal said he'd be calling for an "immediate" hearing by the Senate Armed Services Committee, of which he is ranking member. He and Murphy said Congress needs to hear directly from Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and CIA Director Gina Haspel about the underlying intelligence that led to the strike, and what the plan is moving forward.

"Congress has a job to do here. Our job is oversight," Blumenthal said.

Asked how the strike would affect Trump's impeachment trial, already delayed amid an impasse over terms of the proceeding, the senators said the Senate has a constitutional obligation to move forward with the trial.

j.bergman@theday.com