• Soleimani was a towering figure who was key in training Iran’s proxies around the region, especially in Iraq.
• Iran has vowed to retaliate against the United States. The U.S. Embassy in Iraq has called on all U.S. citizens to leave the country immediately.
• Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Soleimani was planning new attacks against U.S. diplomats in the region and stressed that Washington is committed to de-escalation.
• Iraq’s politicians have roundly condemned the strike, describing it as both a violation of its sovereignty and the agreement allowing U.S. forces in the country.
Canadian foreign minister calls for de-escalation
TORONTO — Canadian Foreign Minister François-Philippe Champagne called on all sides Friday “to exercise restraint and pursue de-escalation” after a U.S. airstrike killed one of Iran’s top military commanders.
“Canada has long been concerned by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, led by Qasem Soleimani, whose aggressive actions have had a destabilizing effect in the region and beyond,” he said in a statement Friday.
Canada has as many as 850 military personnel in Iraq and the surrounding region, as a member of the global coalition against the Islamic State and to train Iraqi forces. Champagne said their safety and that of Canada’s diplomats is his “paramount concern.”
By Amanda Coletta
Iraq militia warns of ‘grave consequences’
BEIRUT — Iraq’s Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia whose rocket attack last Friday on U.S. troops in Iraq precipitated the sudden escalation in tensions, warned Friday that the United States would face “grave consequences” for the killing of Soleimani and the group’s deputy leader.
The strike “places Iraq, the region, and the world in front of a dangerous juncture, the consequences of which may lead towards a war that spares none” the militia warned in a statement. “This will be the beginning of the end of the American presence in Iraq and the region.”
Kataib Hezbollah is one of dozens of Shiite militias in Iraq that fall under the umbrella of the Popular Mobilization Forces, or Hashd Shaabi, whose deputy leader Jamal Jaafar Ibrahimi, known as Abu Mahdi al-Mohandis, was also killed. It was considered one of the most directly influenced by Iran and was regarded as an extension of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Qods Force, which Soleimani commanded.
The United States is holding Kataib Hezbollah responsible for an escalating campaign of rocket attacks targeting Iraqi bases where U.S. troops are present that culminated in the death last week of a U.S. contractor in Kirkuk. The U.S. airstrikes carried out in response against Kataib Hezbollah bases last Sunday triggered the attempt to storm the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad by thousands of militia supporters on Tuesday. The group had agreed to leave the embassy perimeter a day before Soleimani was targeted.
Menendez says he was not briefed by Trump administration on strike
WASHINGTON — Sen. Robert Menendez (N.J.), the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a prominent voice on Iran policy, said he was not briefed on the Soleimani strike and called on the Trump administration to deliver more answers to Congress on what prompted the attack.
“I fear that this administration used tactics but has no strategy in the long term,” Menendez said in an MSNBC appearance, “and what we cannot accept is a march to an unauthorized war.”
Lawmakers “need to see the facts,” he added. “If they can prove through the intelligence that this was an imminent threat against U.S. interests and personnel and that it was defensive in nature, then maybe it has the authority to [strike Soleimani]. But if they cannot … we see a gradual march to military action directly or indirectly with Iran, that has not been authorized by Congress. And if that’s where you’re headed, then you need to come to Congress to get an authorization for the use of military force.”
Menendez also speculated about possible retaliatory attacks that Iran may be considering, ranging from actions by proxy groups against U.S. allies such as Israel and Saudi Arabia, to targeting the region’s oil production capacity, to even attacks on the U.S. homeland.
“They can have sleeper cells in the United States,” he said. “It is possible to see sympathizers and supporters of the Quds Force in Iran make attacks here.”
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Trump tweets that United States has been paying Iraq ‘Billions of Dollars a year’
WASHINGTON — Trump tweeted Friday morning that the United States has been paying large sums of money to Iraq “on top of all else we have done for them” and criticized the influence of Iran in the country.
“The people of Iraq don’t want to be dominated & controlled by Iran, but ultimately, that is their choice,” Trump added, before tweeting that the people of Iraq were not happy with the influence of Iran over their country. “It will never end well!”
United Nations secretary general: ‘The world cannot afford another war’ in the Persian Gulf
WASHINGTON — António Guterres, secretary general of the United Nations, is “deeply concerned with the recent escalation” in the Middle East, according to a statement issued by his spokesperson.
“This is a moment in which leaders must exercise maximum restraint,” the statement read. “The world cannot afford another war in the Gulf.”
Soleimani slaying worries Europeans
BERLIN — European politicians on Friday warned of the potential for a violent blowback after the United States killed Iran’s top military commander. The British and German governments called for a de-escalation after the United States announced overnight that President Trump had ordered the killing of Soleimani. German government deputy spokesperson Ulrike Demmer said it marked a “dangerous escalation point.” British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said Britain had always recognized “the aggressive threat” posed by Soleimani but “further conflict is in none of our interests.” Some U.S. allies urged their citizens to leave Iraq immediately.
