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 08:00 · Jon Sharman]

Iraq's prime minister has strongly condemned the killing of Mr Soleimani, who he said had been a "great symbol in achieving victory against the terrorist Isis".

[3 January 2020 08:02 · Jon Sharman]

Oil prices have jumped by nearly $3 after the airstrike.

[3 January 2020 08:03 · Jon Sharman]

Another bit from Joe Biden's statement: "I hope the administration has thought through the second- and third-order consequences of the path they have chosen.

"But I fear this administration has not demonstrated at any turn the discipline or long-term vision necessary, and the stakes could not be higher."

[3 January 2020 08:04 · Jon Sharman]

France's embassy in Tehran has warned its citizens to avoid public gatherings.

"Three days of mourning have been declared after the death of General Soleimani. In this context, we recommend French citizens to stay away from any gatherings and to behave with prudence and discretion and abstain from taking pictures in public spaces," it said in a statement on Twitter.

[3 January 2020 08:13 · Jon Sharman]

Preempting possible backlash amid accusations Israeli forces were involved in Mr Soleimani's assassination, the Israeli military said it had imposed a heightened alert state, writes Bel Trew.

Israeli authorities also closed the Mount Hermon ski resort near the border with Syria and Lebanon. 

Benjamin Netanyahu made no comment on the killing. Israeli media reported cabinet ministers had been asked to keep silent so as not to drag the country into the conflict.

But political figures who held no government office were quick to praise the US’s actions. Gidon Saar, a veteran member of Mr Netanyahu’s ruling Likud party, tweeted “Gold Bless America!” shortly after the news broke.

Yair Lapid, one of the leaders of the Blue and White alliance, a chief rival to the Likud meanwhile congratulated Mr Trump “and the Middle East”.

“[Mr Soleimani] is responsible for the murder of thousands of innocents and got exactly what he deserved. The Iranian regime is a terrorist regime, when faced with terror you act with force and determination. All those involved in Iran’s terror industry should know that their life is at risk,” he said.

[3 January 2020 08:15 · Jon Sharman]

This was Donald Trump's only tweet last night after the killing of Soleimani was announced.

[3 January 2020 08:17 · Jon Sharman]

The targeted killing of Iranian Maj-Gen Qassem Soleimani by US forces represents just the latest escalation in Donald Trump's long-running campaign to contrast himself with his predecessor by taking an increasingly aggressive posture towards Tehran, writes Andrew Feinberg.

Mr Trump took office in 2017 having promised to pull the US out of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the agreement between Iran, the EU, and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.

The agreement, which limited Iran's ability to enrich nuclear materials to weapons grade for 10 years, was widely seen as one of former president Barack Obama's major foreign policy accomplishments.

[3 January 2020 08:18 · Jon Sharman]

Russia's foreign ministry has warned that the US airstrike will increase Middle East tensions.

Moscow is Iran's top ally.

[3 January 2020 08:20 · Jon Sharman]

Donald Trump's past comments on a potential war with Iran have resurfaced. In 2011 he claimed Barack Obama would initiate such a conflict because he was a poor negotiator.

[3 January 2020 08:23 · Jon Sharman]

Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina senator who has become one of Donald Trump's biggest boosters despite his previous opposition to the billionaire, has called for Washington to destroy Iran's oil refineries.

In a series of tweets, the Republican said: "Thank you, Mr. President, for standing up for America. This action by President Trump and our military was in direct response to Iranian aggression orchestrated by General Soleimani and his proxies.

"If Iran continues to attack America and our allies, they should pay the heaviest of prices, which includes the destruction of their oil refineries.

"To the Iranian government: If you want to stay in the oil business leave America and our allies alone and stop being the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world."