Iran news – live: Trump claims Qassem Soleimani was ‘plotting to kill’ Americans, and urges US citizens to leave Iraq after killing of Iran’s top general

US president and his top diplomat provide no detail for claim, while Tehran and allies vow revenge

Senator Chuck Schumer says Congress should have been informed prior to strikes on Soleimani

Donald Trump and his top diplomat, Mike Pompeo, have claimed Qassem Soleimani posed an “imminent” threat to American lives that justified the airstrike that killed him in Baghdad last night.

The US president said the Iranian general was “plotting to kill” US citizens, but neither he nor Mr Pompeo provided additional details to support the claim. Americans in Iraq have been urged to leave immediately in the wake of the killing.

Soleimani, the head of the elite Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force and Tehran’s most senior military commander in Iraq, was killed near Baghdad Airport alongside Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a high-ranking commander in Iraq’s militia.

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Key Points

• US committed to de-escalation, claims Pompeo
• Simultaneous killing of Iraqi militia leader will ‘light fuse of war’, PM says
• US embassy in Iraq urges Americans to leave country
• ‘Americans must presume they’re at war’
• Trump has ‘tossed dynamite into tinderbox’, Biden says

[3 January 2020 19:38 · Vincent Wood]

The US assassination of one of Iran’s top security officials early Friday could mean “war” with the Islamic Republic with unpredictable consequences, warned a former US intelligence officer and diplomats with expertise in the Middle East.

“It’s war,” said a former US intelligence officer who has worked on Iraq and Iran and spoke to Borzou Daraghi on condition of anonymity.

“It was always somewhat of a war but when you cut his head off, that’s war. There’s no other way around it.”.

More below:

[3 January 2020 19:52 · Vincent Wood]

The EU’s chief official on foreign affairs and security Josep Borell has called for de-escalation in Iraq following the drone strike in a bid to stabilise the region.

In a statement the high representative said: "The current cycle of violence in Iraq must be stopped before it spirals out of control.

“The EU calls on all the actors involved and on those partners who can have an influence to exercise maximum restraint and show responsibility in this crucial moment. Another crisis risks jeopardizing years of efforts to stabilise Iraq.

“Furthermore, the ongoing escalation threatens the whole region, which has suffered immensely and whose populations deserve life in peace.

“More dialogue and efforts to enhance mutual understanding are necessary to offer long term solutions to the stabilisation of the Middle East.

"The EU stands ready to continue its engagement with all sides in order to contribute to defusing tensions and reverse the dynamics of the conflict.”

[3 January 2020 20:33 · Vincent Wood]

Donald Trump has said the US killing of Iran's top military chief General Qassem Soleimani "should have been done a long time ago".

The US president said: "We took action last night to stop a war. We did not take action to start a war."

Mr Trump said the US was not seeking regime change in Iran, but claimed the world was a safer place without "monsters" such as Gen Soleimani.

He said: "If Americans anywhere are threatened we have all of those targets fully identified and I am ready and prepared to take whatever action is necessary, and that particularly refers to Iran."

[3 January 2020 21:06 · Vincent Wood]

Donald Trump has claimed Qassem Soleimani had been involved in terror plotting in the UK before his death.

Designating Soleimani as the "number one terrorist anywhere in the world", he went on to claim the military leader had contributed plots in London as well as New Delhi and other regions.

He provided no evidence to support the claims.

[3 January 2020 23:03 · Vincent Wood]

Russia's foreign minister says the killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani "grossly violates international law and should be condemned."

In a phone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo late Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said "the move by the U.S. is fraught with severe consequences for the peace of stability in the region and doesn't help resolve complicated problems in the Middle East." - according to a statement the Foreign Ministry released on its website.

Lavrov urged Washington to "stop using unlawful methods of force" in trying to achieve its foreign policy goals and instead bring "any problems to the negotiating table."

[3 January 2020 23:29 · Vincent Wood]

A United States air strike targeted an Iraqi militia late on Friday on Taji road north of Baghdad, state TV said. It did not name the militia or provide further details.

Air strikes targeting Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Forces umbrella grouping of Iran-backed Shi'ite militias near camp Taji north of Baghdad have killed six people and critically wounded three, an Iraqi army source told Reuters late on Friday.