BAGHDAD, JAN 4
Iran promised harsh revenge on Friday after a US air strike in Baghdad on Friday killed Qassem Soleimani, commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force and architect of its growing military influence in the Middle East.
Soleimani, a 62-year-old general, was regarded as the second most powerful figure in Iran after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The overnight attack, authorised by President Donald Trump, was a dramatic escalation in a “shadow war in the Middle East between Iran and the United States and its allies, principally Israel and Saudi Arabia. US President Donald Trump says the Iranian military commander who was killed by a US airstrike in Iraq was “plotting to kill’’ many Americans.
In his first comments on the targeted killing, Trump said Gen Soleimani was also responsible for killing and wounding “thousands” of Americans and many more in the region. Trump adds that “he should have been taken out many years ago!” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the strike aimed to disrupt an “imminent attack” that would have endangered Americans in the Middle East. The attack also killed top Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, an adviser to Soleimani.
Iraq angry
Iraq’s prime minister condemned on Friday the killing Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and said it would “light the fuse” of war. Israel put its army on high alert.
US oil workers leave
The US embassy in Baghdad urged all American citizens to depart Iraq immediately.
Dozens of US citizens working for foreign oil companies in the southern city of Basra were leaving the country. Iraqi officials said the evacuations would not affect output and exports were unaffected.
Khamenei said harsh revenge awaited the “criminals” who killed Soleimani and said his death would double resistance against the United States and Israel.
In statements on state media, he called for three days of national mourning and appointed Soleimani’s deputy, Brigadier General Esmail Ghaani, to replace him as Quds Force head.
“President Trump just tossed a stick of dynamite into a tinderbox,” said former Vice President Joe Biden, a contender in this year’s — Courtesy: Reuters
