In an official statement released by Pentagon, the United States Department of Defense confirmed that Iran’s top commander General Qassim Soleimani has been killed in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad. Though the news started making rounds on Iraqi media from Thursday afternoon, the US defence confirmed the news much later that the U.S. military has taken decisive defensive action at the direction of the President, to protect U.S. personnel abroad.
Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force was alleged of being responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members. He has been the second most influential figure in Iranian and Middle East politics whose death news has triggered high tensions between Iran and the United States. The strike also reportedly killed Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of Iraqi paramilitary group Hashd Shaabi. While the news that Iranian forces are planning for a retaliation Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter that the assassination of Soleimani was extremely dangerous & a foolish escalation.
