The latest on the U.S. airstrike in Baghdad that killed Iran’s top general (all times local):
Iran’s U.N. ambassador is urging the U.N. Security Council to condemn what Tehran calls “a criminal act” of “state terrorism” by the United States that led to “the horrific assassination” of the country’s top military commander.
Ambassador Majid Takht Ravanchi says Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani played “a significant role” in helping some countries “in combatting and defeating the most dangerous terrorist groups,” including the Islamic State.
In letters sent Friday to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the Security Council president, Ravanchi says the U.S. airstrike targeting Soleimani “clearly invalidates the claim of the United States that it is fighting terrorism.”
The United States has killed Iran’s top general in an airstrike at Baghdad’s international airport, an attack that threatens to dramatically ratchet up tensions in the region. The targeted killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, could draw forceful Iranian retaliation against American interests in the region and spiral into a far larger conflict.
The Defense Department says it killed Soleimani because he “was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region.” An adviser to Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani is warning U.S. President Donald Trump of retaliation.
Credit : AP
