Sj Desk
At the direction of President Donald Trump, the United States military carried out airstrikes at the Baghdad International Airport on Thursday, that resulted in the killing of Qasem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps-Quds Force (IRGC). The Pentagon said that the airstrike was aimed at deterring any future attacks on American personnel in Iraq and the region.
As per an Iranian television report, Soleimani was hit near the Baghdad airport, along with Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, an Iraqi militia commander.
The United States military fired three Katyusha missiles at the airport, killing the Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander and head of the elite al-Quds force and Iraq‘s paramilitary Popular Mobilization Forces’ deputy head Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
On Friday morning, Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif condemned the United States for the airstrikes at the Baghdad International Airport in a tweet, blaming the US for displaying "rogue adventurism".
The US' act of international terrorism, targeting & assassinating General Soleimani—THE most effective force fighting Daesh (ISIS), Al Nusrah, Al Qaeda et al—is extremely dangerous & a foolish escalation.
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) January 3, 2020
The US bears responsibility for all consequences of its rogue adventurism.
The foreign minister lashed out by calling the airstrike, which was ordered by Trump, "an act of international terrorism".
Qasem Soleimani was viewed as a potential future leader of Iran and shared a close relationship with the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini.
An official statement by the US department of defense said, “At the direction of the President, the US military has taken decisive defensive action to protect US personnel abroad by killing Qasem Soleiman.” They also added that IRGC-QF was a US-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization.
