US President Donald Trump first published in his official Twitter account after the attack on Baghdad International Airport on Friday, December 3 that killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. Given Iran’s promises of revenge, the US leader wrote that “Iran never won a war,” adding that “but never lost a negotiation” in a message that is being viewed as a provocation to the former US president. Barack Obama, who remembers, has negotiated a nuclear deal with the Iranians.
Iran never won a war, but never lost a negotiation!
– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2020
Iraqi security officials announced Friday, Dec. 3, that the commander of Iran’s elite Al-Quds force, General Qassem Soleimani, has died in an air strike against Baghdad International Airport. In the same attack also died the ‘number two’ of the coalition of pro-Iranian paramilitary groups in Iraq, Abu Mehdi al-Muhandis, known as Popular Mobilization. [Hachd al-Chaabi]. The attack will have killed at least eight people.
This attack was ordered by Donald Trump, as confirmed by the Pentagon. “By order of the president, the US military has taken decisive defensive measures to protect US personnel abroad, killing Qassem Soleimani.”
The Pentagon states that Soleimani was “actively developing plans to attack US diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region.” The US Department of Defense accused Soleimani of approving the unprecedented assault on the US embassy in Baghdad earlier this week, stressing that the Iranian general “aimed to deter future Iranian attack plans.”
Iran’s chief diplomat Mohammad Javad Zarif used his Twitter account to warn that the death of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani is an “extremely dangerous escalation”. “The US act of international terrorism … is extremely dangerous and a reckless escalation” of tensions, said Mohammad Javad Zarif, in a message published on the Twitter social network.
Also reacting to this US attack was former Iranian Revolutionary Guard leader Mohsen Rezai, promising revenge. “Soleimani has joined our martyred brothers, but our revenge on America will be terrible.”
Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei also vows to avenge the death of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and has declared three days of national mourning. “Martyrdom is the reward for tireless work all these years. God willing, your work and your way will not end here. Ruthless revenge awaits the criminals who have filled their hands with their blood and the blood of other martyrs, ”he said.
However, the US embassy in Baghdad has already called on its citizens to leave Iraq “immediately”. The US diplomatic representation urged Americans in Iraq to “fly by as soon as possible” or “go to other countries by land.” Iraq’s main border crossings lead to Iran and Syria, but there are other crossing points to Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
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