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
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Your support makes all the difference.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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Oil prices spiked and stock markets opened lower on Friday after a US airstrike killed Iranian major-general Qassem Soleimani, head of the elite Quds force, in a major escalation of hostility between Washington and Tehran, writes Ben Chapman.
Brent Crude rose 3.8 per cent to $68.87 while another key benchmark price, West Texas Intermediate, was up 3.7 per cent to $68.77 by mid-morning.
A sustained rise in oil prices would push up prices for consumers at the pumps and increase costs for businesses.
Donald Trump is awake. So far he's only retweeted travel advisories, but that may change...
Hundreds of mourners gather outside home of assassinated Iranian general Soleimani in Kerman
Benjamin Netanyahu has released a statement, which is strongly supportive of his close ally Donald Trump.
He said: "Just as Israel has the right of self-defense, the United States has exactly the same right.
"Qassem Soleimani is responsible for the death of American citizens and many other innocent people. He was planning more such attacks.
President Trump deserves all the credit for acting swiftly, forcefully and decisively.
"Israel stands with the United States in its just struggle for peace, security and self-defense".
Mr Trump has won favour with Mr Netanyahu by moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and supporting Israeli settlement-building.
Mike Pompeo has claimed the US "remains committed to de-escalation" in its relationship with Iran, following the drone killing of Tehran's top general.
Governments around the world had urged restraint in the hours after the news broke.
On Friday the US secretary of state said on Twitter that he had spoken to several of his opposite numbers about the airstrike.
Now Donald Trump is starting up his more usual, politicised Twitter activity, retweeting a broadcaster's post about the anti-US campaigns of Qassem Soleimani.
The assassination of Qassem Soleimani, the most famous Iranian general, by a US airstrike as he left Baghdad airport ensures an escalation in hostilities between the US and Iran, writes Patrick Cockburn.
The most serious consequence is likely to be that the Iranian leadership will use the killings to pressure the Iraqi government to expel US forces from Iraq.
The Iranian government will not be the only ones looking to retaliate. Among those who died in the car in which Major-General Soleimani was travelling was Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the head of the pro-Iranian paramilitary group Kata’ib Hezbollah, whose militants could well resume their assault on the US embassy in the Green Zone in Baghdad, where they staged a limited incursion earlier this week.
Crucially, the Iraqi security forces stood aside, underlining the vulnerability of the US embassy and all US bases in Iraq, where 5,000 US troops are stationed.
Lebanon's foreign ministry has now condemned the US airstrike that killed Qassem Soleimani, calling it a violation of Iraqi sovereignty and a dangerous escalation against Iran.
Mike Pompeo, in an interview with CNN, has said perceived threats to American interests from Soleimani were centred in the Middle East, not the US itself.
In a separate interview with Fox News, the secretary of state said the Trump administration had considered the risk of retaliatory cyberattacks by Tehran when weighing last night's deadly airstrike.
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