Iran vowed “harsh retaliation” for a U.S. airstrike near Baghdad’s airport that killed a top Iranian general who had been the architect of its interventions across the Middle East, and the U.S. announced Friday it was sending more troops to the region as tensions soared in the wake of the targeted killing.
The killing of GEN. QASSEM SOLEIMANI, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, marks a major escalation in the standoff between Washington and Iran, which has careened from one crisis to another since President Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal and imposed crippling sanctions.
The United States said it was sending nearly 3,000 more Army troops to the Middle East and urged American citizens to leave Iraq “immediately” following the early morning airstrike at Baghdad’s international airport that Iran’s state TV said killed SOLEIMANI and nine others.
The State Department said the embassy in Baghdad, which was attacked by Iran-backed militiamen and their supporters earlier this week, is closed and all consular services have been suspended.
Around 5,200 American troops are based in Iraq to train Iraqi forces and help in the fight against Islamic State group militants. U.S. embassies also issued a security alert for Americans in Lebanon, Bahrain Kuwait and Nigeria.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that “harsh retaliation is waiting” for the U.S. after the airstrike, calling SOLEIMANI the “international face of resistance.”
Khamenei declared three days of public mourning and appointed MAJ. GEN. ESMAIL GHAANI, SOLEIMANI’S deputy, to replace him as head of the Quds Force.
Iranian President HASSAN ROUHANI called the killing a “heinous crime” and vowed his country would “take revenge.”
Iran twice summoned the Swiss envoy, the first time delivering a letter to pass onto the United States.
Thousands of worshippers in the Iranian capital Tehran took to the streets after Friday Muslim prayers to condemn the killing, waving posters of SOLEIMANI and chanting “Death to deceitful America.”
The targeted strike, and any retaliation by Iran, could ignite a conflict that engulfs the whole region, endangering U.S. troops in Iraq, Syria and beyond. Over the last two decades, SOLEIMANI had assembled a network of heavily armed allies stretching all the way to southern Lebanon, on Israel’s doorstep.
However, the attack may act as a deterrent for Iran and its allies to delay or restrain any potential response. Oil prices surged on news of the airstrike and markets were mixed.
The killing promised to further strain relations with Iraq’s government, which is allied with both Washington and Tehran and has been deeply worried about becoming a battleground in their rivalry. Iraqi politicians close to Iran called for the country to order U.S. forces out.
The Defense Department said it killed the 62-year-old SOLEIMANI because he “was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region.” It also accused SOLEIMANI of approving the orchestrated violent protests at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.
The strike, on an access road near Baghdad’s airport, was carried out Friday by an American drone, according to a U.S. official.
SOLEIMANI had just disembarked from a plane arriving from either Syria or Lebanon, a senior Iraqi security official said.
The blast tore his body to pieces along with that of ABU MAHDI AL-MUHANDIS, deputy commander of the Iranian-backed militias in Iraq known as the Popular Mobilization Forces.
A senior politician said SOLEIMANI’S body was identified by the ring he wore. Iran’s state TV said Friday 10 people were killed in the airstrike, including five Revolutionary Guard members and SOLEIMANI’S son-in-law, whom he did not identify.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.
The attack comes at the start of a year in which Trump faces both a Senate trial following his impeachment by Congress and a re-election campaign. It marks a potential turning point in the Middle East and represents a drastic change for American policy toward Iran after months of tensions.
The tensions are rooted in in Trump’s decision in May 2018 to withdraw the U.S. from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers, struck under his predecessor, Barack Obama.
Since then, Tehran shot down a U.S. military surveillance drone and seized oil tankers. The U.S. also blames Iran for other attacks targeting tankers and a September assault on Saudi Arabia’s oil industry that temporarily halved its production.
Meanwhile Israeli Defense Minister NAFTALI BENNETT held a meeting with top security officials Friday, but the Israeli military said it was not taking any extraordinary action on its northern front, other than closing a ski resort in the Golan Heights near Lebanon and Syria as a precaution.
In the United Arab Emirates, a key U.S. ally in the Gulf, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs ANWAR GARGASH, called for “rational engagement” and a “calm approach.”
Emirati political analyst ABDULKHALEQ ABDULLAH said the U.S. strike could help restore confidence among Gulf leaders that Washington will push back against their rival Iran. But, he said, they also don’t want to be caught in the middle. “Is the region ready for a sharp escalation?” he said. “We are the closest to the theater than anyone on earth.”
The most immediate impact could be in Iraq.
Funerals for AL-MUHANDIS and the other slain Iraqis were set for Saturday.
