Iranian general was plotting to kill many Americans, Trump claims after air strike

● Head of elite force killed in drone attack at Baghdad airport ● Tehran vows revenge amid fears of deeper conflict in region

Donald Trump has said a leading Iranian general killed in a US air strike near Baghdad’s airport was targeted because he was “plotting to kill” many Americans.

“He should have been taken out many years ago!” the US president tweeted, as Iran vowed “harsh retaliation” for the killing of General Qassem

Soleimani, who had been the architect of its interventions across the Middle East.

The killing of Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, marks a major escalation in the dispute between Washington and Tehran, which has gone from one crisis to another since Mr Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal and imposed crippling sanctions.

Washington urged American citizens to leave Iraq

“immediately” following yesterday’s air strike at Baghdad’s international airport, which killed Soleimani and nine others, Iran’s state TV reported.

The US state department said the US embassy in Baghdad, which was attacked by Iran-backed militias and their supporters this week, is closed and all consular services have been suspended.

About 5,200 American troops are based in Iraq, where they mainly train Iraqi forces and help to combat Islamic State terrorists.

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that “harsh retaliation is waiting” for the US, calling Soleimani the “international face of resistance”.

He declared three days of mourning and appointed Major General 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”.

Thousands of worshippers in the Iranian capital Tehran took to the streets after Friday prayers to condemn the killing, chanting “Death to deceitful America”.

The targeted strike, and any retaliation by Iran, could ignite a conflict that engulfs the region, endangering US troops in Iraq, Syria and beyond.

Over the past 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.

The killing threatened to 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.

The US defence department said it killed the 62-yearold general because he “was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region”. It accused him of approving the violent protests at the US Embassy in Baghdad.

The strike, on an access road near the airport, was carried by a US drone, according to an American official.

Soleimani had just got off a plane arriving from Syria or Lebanon, an Iraqi security official said. The blast killed the general along with Abu Mahdi al-muhandis, the deputy commander of the Iranianbacked militias in Iraq known as the Popular Mobilisation Forces.

Iran’s state TV said ten people were killed, including five Revolutionary Guards and Soleimani’s son-in-law, who was not identified.

The tensions are rooted in Mr Trump’s decision in May 2018 to withdraw the US from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers, struck under his predecessor Barack Obama.

Since then, Tehran has shot down a US military surveillance drone and seized oil tankers.

Washingtonalsoblamesiran for other attacks targeting tankers and a September assault on Saudi Arabia’s oil industry.