As US President Donald Trump said America will come to Tehran’s rescue if protesters are attacked, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi denounced the his remarks. Araghchi termed it "reckless and dangerous". “Given President Trump’s deployment of the National Guard within U.S. borders, he of all people should know that criminal attacks on public property cannot be tolerated. This is why President Trump’s message today, likely influenced by those who fear diplomacy or mistakenly believe it is unnecessary, is reckless and dangerous. As in the past, the Great People of Iran will forcefully reject any interference in their internal affairs,” the foreign minister added.&nbsp;&nbsp;

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Those in Iran impacted by transient exchange rate volatility have recently been peacefully protesting, as is their right. Separate from that, we have witnessed isolated incidents of violent riots—including attacks on a police station and throwing of Molotov cocktails at police… <a href="https://t.co/ND5oajUuxt">pic.twitter.com/ND5oajUuxt</a>&mdash; Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) <a href="https://twitter.com/araghchi/status/2007130223436062794?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 2, 2026</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

&nbsp;On Friday (Jan 2), Donald Trump warned Iran not to use force on protesters. He assured Iranians that the US will come to their rescue “if Iran shoots and violently kills peaceful protesters” and he further mentioned violence to be “their custom”. He added on his Truth Social post, “We are locked and loaded and ready to go. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J TRUMP.”&nbsp;Iran’s leadership hit back at the warning, with Ali Larijani, a senior adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying on Friday that any US interference in Iranian protests would lead to chaos across the region. His remarks came after Trump warned Washington would intervene if Iran used lethal force against peaceful demonstrators.&nbsp;Ali Larijani, a senior adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei hit back at Trump’s warning. He said any US interference in Iranian protests would lead more turbulence in the region. Larijani’s remarks came after the US president’s warning indicating that Washington would not keep silent if Tehran used lethal force against peaceful protesters.&nbsp;The country is seeing these protests after the nationwide demonstrations in 2022 following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Jina Amini. She died in police custody after her detention over hijab rules.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi denounced Trump's remarks on protesters. “Given President Trump’s deployment of the National Guard within U.S. borders, he of all people should know that criminal attacks on public property cannot be tolerated.” the FM said. 

As US President Donald Trump said America will come to Tehran’s rescue if protesters are attacked, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi denounced the his remarks. Araghchi termed it "reckless and dangerous". “Given President Trump’s deployment of the National Guard within U.S. borders, he of all people should know that criminal attacks on public property cannot be tolerated. This is why President Trump’s message today, likely influenced by those who fear diplomacy or mistakenly believe it is unnecessary, is reckless and dangerous. As in the past, the Great People of Iran will forcefully reject any interference in their internal affairs,” the foreign minister added.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi denounced Trump's remarks on protesters. “Given President Trump’s deployment of the National Guard within U.S. borders, he of all people should know that criminal attacks on public property cannot be tolerated.” the FM said.&nbsp;

'Reckless and dangerous': Iran's Foreign Minister Araghchi denounces Trump's remarks

Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif responded to Trump's warnings on Sunday in a tweet, saying that targetting country's cultural sites would be a "war crime".&nbsp;

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-Having committed grave breaches of int'l law in Friday's cowardly assassinations, <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realdonaldtrump</a> threatens to commit again new breaches of JUS COGENS; 
 
-Targeting cultural sites is a WAR CRIME; 
 
-Whether kicking or screaming, end of US malign presence in West Asia has begun.
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) <a href="https://twitter.com/JZarif/status/1213742809095770113?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 5, 2020</a></blockquote>
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The comments came after Trump tweeted early on Sunday where he warned Iran that US would target Iran's 52 sites if they killed any American.&nbsp;

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....hundreds of Iranian protesters. He was already attacking our Embassy, and preparing for additional hits in other locations. Iran has been nothing but problems for many years. Let this serve as a WARNING that if Iran strikes any Americans, or American assets, we have.....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1213593974679769093?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 4, 2020</a></blockquote>
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....targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level &amp; important to Iran &amp; the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD. The USA wants no more threats!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1213593975732527112?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 4, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Iran "will be hit very fast and very hard," Trump said in a tweet.&nbsp;

The tensions between Iran and the US rose after the killing of Soleimani, former chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force. Concerns of war were also raised after the US drone strike that killed Soleimani and Iraq's paramilitary chief.&nbsp;

Iran's army chief General Abdolrahim Mousavi also said on Sunday that US lacked the "courage" to initiate a conflict.&nbsp;

"I doubt they have the courage to initiate," Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi said, reported by state news agency IRNA.&nbsp;

Earlier today, thousands of mourners cried, beat their chests as they paid respect to&nbsp;Soleimani after his last remains reached Iran.

In the southwestern city of Ahvaz, men and women shouted "Death to America" and carried portraits of the commander.

It is expected that the last remains of Soleimani, who was much-revered in the region&nbsp;will reach Iraqi capital Tehran in the evening. The funeral fo former commander will be done in his hometown Kerman on Tuesday.&nbsp;

Earlier, Iran's supreme commander Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed of "severe revenge" after the killing of former commander.&nbsp; 
&nbsp;

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif responded to Trump's warnings on Sunday in a tweet, saying that targetting country's cultural sites would be a "war crime".

Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif responded to Trump's warnings on Sunday in a tweet, saying that targetting country's cultural sites would be a "war crime". -Having committed grave breaches of int'l law in Friday's cowardly assassinations, @realdonaldtrump threatens to commit again new breaches of JUS COGENS; -Targeting cultural sites is a WAR CRIME; -Whether kicking or screaming, end of US malign presence in West Asia has begun. — Javad Zarif (@JZarif) January 5, 2020 × The comments came after Trump tweeted early on Sunday where he warned Iran that US would target Iran's 52 sites if they killed any American. ....hundreds of Iranian protesters. He was already attacking our Embassy, and preparing for additional hits in other locations. Iran has been nothing but problems for many years. Let this serve as a WARNING that if Iran strikes any Americans, or American assets, we have..... — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2020 × ....targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself, WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD. The USA wants no more threats! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2020 × Iran "will be hit very fast and very hard," Trump said in a tweet. The tensions between Iran and the US rose after the killing of Soleimani, former chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force. Concerns of war were also raised after the US drone strike that killed Soleimani and Iraq's paramilitary chief. Iran's army chief General Abdolrahim Mousavi also said on Sunday that US lacked the "courage" to initiate a conflict. "I doubt they have the courage to initiate," Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi said, reported by state news agency IRNA. Earlier today, thousands of mourners cried, beat their chests as they paid respect to Soleimani after his last remains reached Iran. In the southwestern city of Ahvaz, men and women shouted "Death to America" and carried portraits of the commander. It is expected that the last remains of Soleimani, who was much-revered in the region will reach Iraqi capital Tehran in the evening. The funeral fo former commander will be done in his hometown Kerman on Tuesday. Earlier, Iran's supreme commander Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed of "severe revenge" after the killing of former commander.

It will be a 'war crime' if US attacks Iran's cultural sites: Foreign minister Zarif

The killing of Iranian military leader Qassim Soleimani proves the point: The United States has perfected the art of strengthening Iranian hardliners fuelled by an apparently ingrained misreading of Iranian politics and strategy sustained over decades.

It also suggests that the Trump administration has walked into a trap in which spiralling tension between the United States and Iran is likely to be played out on Iranian rather than US terms.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/thousands-gather-in-baghdad-to-mourn-soleimani-others-killed-in-us-airstrike-272067">Thousands gather in Baghdad to mourn Soleimani, others killed in US airstrike</a>

Iran moved last year away from its initial strategic patience response to the US withdrawal from the 2015 international agreement that curbed the Islamic republic’s nuclear program and the imposition of harsh economic sanctions to a strategy of gradual escalation.

Iran is banking on the assumption that taking the United States to the brink of yet another Middle Eastern war will ultimately persuade the Trump administration to return to the negotiating table. It’s a high-risk gamble that so far has produced results.

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/qasem-soleimanis-killing-what-options-does-iran-have-to-avenge-top-commanders-assassination-272107">Qasem Soleimani's killing: What options does Iran have to avenge top commander's assassination</a>

Last week’skilling of an American contractor on an Iraqi military base constituted Iran’s latest chess move.

It sparked a US military strike against an Iranian-backed militia, the subsequent killing of Mr Soleimani and the leader of the militia, Abdul Mahdi al-Muhandis, and the targeting of a militia convoy.

The Iranian move led to the siege of the US embassy in Iraq that evoked images of the humiliating 1975 evacuation of the US mission in Saigon towards the end of the Vietnam war and the 444-day occupation of the US embassy in Tehran in 1979.

It also has put at risk the future of US forces in Iraq, seventeen years after US forces toppled Saddam Hussein and US$1 trillion later. Iraq’s parliament is about to discuss moves to remove foreign forces from the country.

“A humiliating departure for the US from Iraq now seems inevitable,” said International Crisis Group Iran expert Ali Vaez.

Pro-Iranian militias are counting on the fact that they are Iraqis with close ties to the Iraqi security establishment, which they expect will exclude them from the moves that would primarily target the United States.

Iraq’s influential Shiite leader Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has so far limited himself to calling for restraint in the wake of Mr Soleimani’s killing. Yet, Mr Al-Sistani could prove to be the player who definitively sways the pendulum.

“How long before Ayatollah Sistani issues a fatwa (religious opinion) asking US troops to leave?” Mr. Vaez asked.

In a similarly humbling development, Iraq, long a primary venue for an ongoing US-Iranian proxy war, has become in the wake of Mr Soleimani’s death a no-go zone for Americans with the Trump administration urging US citizens to leave immediately to avoid becoming targets.

Earlier, an attack in September on two key Saudi oil facilities, widely believed to have been instigated by Iran, coupled with US President Donald J. Trump’s hesitant response to the assault and the earlier downing of a US drone by Iran, persuaded Saudi Arabia to tone down its rhetoric and explore ways of reducing tension with Iran.

The spectre of a Saudi Iranian rapprochement was put on hold with the eruption in recent months of anti-government protests in Lebanon and Iraq that threatened to throw a monkey wrench into Iran’s strategy of exerting regional influence through proxies.

While it is likely to remain on hold amid the escalating tension, it has not been taken off the table.

Earlier, the United Arab Emirates reached out to Iran after the Islamic republic was sought to have instigated attacks on tankers off the Emirati coast.

The “sequence of events shows that, thus far, the Iranian strategy of calculated counter-escalation is working… By escalating on its own, Iran forced a number of key players to change their cost-benefit calculus,” said Eldar Mamedov, an advisor to the social-democrats in the European parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee.

While that may be a positive development in and of itself, it also means that regional US allies, with the exception of Israel that wholeheartedly endorsed the killing of Mr Soleimani, are likely to be more circumspect in their support of the US amid escalating tensions.

Already, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have called for restraint in the wake of Mr Soleimani’s death.

Mr Soleimani’s killing has widened the opening for a tit-for-tat war in which Iran has the advantage of being a master of asymmetric warfare and at playing in grey areas.

Amid massive speculation about how it will respond to the killing, Iran is likely to take its time and strike out of the left field, potentially prompting an American response that again risks playing into Iranian hands.

“The Iranians will definitely respond, but not in a way that triggers an all-out war, which they know they would lose,” said Iran expert Dina Esfandiary.

In a further indication of US misreading of the tea leaves, the killing of Mr Soleimani threatens to amount to a gift of God for Iranian hardliners who are now expected to win next month’s parliamentary election in Iran.

A hardline victory would spotlight the United States’ repeated shooting of an own goal by adopting policies that undermine its own long-standing aim of persuading Iran to moderate its policies and tone down its revolutionary rhetoric.

Rather than provide incentives, like with the 2015 nuclear accord, US policy has more often than not reinforced perceptions in Tehran that the United States’ real goal was regime change.

Mr Trump’s former national security advisor John Bolton reinforced those perceptions in response to Mr Soleimani’s killing: &nbsp;“Hope this is the first step to regime change in Tehran,” he tweeted.

US policy prompted Iran to adopt a defence and security policy that compensated for the Islamic republic’s intrinsic weakness by emphasizing the very things the United States has long wanted to see change. These include Iran’s successful use of proxies across the Middle East.

At the bottom line, the strengthening of Iranian hardliners not only undermines US policy goals but also risks putting the United States in difficult, if not impossible and at times humiliating positions, and sucking it into a conflict for which it is ill-equipped.

Said political anthropologist Negar Razavi: “The US foreign policy establishment has collectively created a culture of expert impunity when it comes to Iran, which has contributed in no small part to the unstable and dangerous policy conditions we see under Trump today.”

(Views expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

The killing of Iranian military leader Qassim Soleimani proves the point: The United States has perfected the art of strengthening Iranian hardliners fuelled by an apparently ingrained misreading of Iranian politics and strategy sustained over decades.

The killing of Iranian military leader Qassim Soleimani proves the point: The United States has perfected the art of strengthening Iranian hardliners fuelled by an apparently ingrained misreading of Iranian politics and strategy sustained over decades. It also suggests that the Trump administration has walked into a trap in which spiralling tension between the United States and Iran is likely to be played out on Iranian rather than US terms. Also read: Thousands gather in Baghdad to mourn Soleimani, others killed in US airstrike Iran moved last year away from its initial strategic patience response to the US withdrawal from the 2015 international agreement that curbed the Islamic republic’s nuclear program and the imposition of harsh economic sanctions to a strategy of gradual escalation. Iran is banking on the assumption that taking the United States to the brink of yet another Middle Eastern war will ultimately persuade the Trump administration to return to the negotiating table. It’s a high-risk gamble that so far has produced results. Also read: Qasem Soleimani's killing: What options does Iran have to avenge top commander's assassination Last week’skilling of an American contractor on an Iraqi military base constituted Iran’s latest chess move. It sparked a US military strike against an Iranian-backed militia, the subsequent killing of Mr Soleimani and the leader of the militia, Abdul Mahdi al-Muhandis, and the targeting of a militia convoy. The Iranian move led to the siege of the US embassy in Iraq that evoked images of the humiliating 1975 evacuation of the US mission in Saigon towards the end of the Vietnam war and the 444-day occupation of the US embassy in Tehran in 1979. It also has put at risk the future of US forces in Iraq, seventeen years after US forces toppled Saddam Hussein and US$1 trillion later. Iraq’s parliament is about to discuss moves to remove foreign forces from the country. “A humiliating departure for the US from Iraq now seems inevitable,” said International Crisis Group Iran expert Ali Vaez. Pro-Iranian militias are counting on the fact that they are Iraqis with close ties to the Iraqi security establishment, which they expect will exclude them from the moves that would primarily target the United States. Iraq’s influential Shiite leader Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani has so far limited himself to calling for restraint in the wake of Mr Soleimani’s killing. Yet, Mr Al-Sistani could prove to be the player who definitively sways the pendulum. “How long before Ayatollah Sistani issues a fatwa (religious opinion) asking US troops to leave?” Mr. Vaez asked. In a similarly humbling development, Iraq, long a primary venue for an ongoing US-Iranian proxy war, has become in the wake of Mr Soleimani’s death a no-go zone for Americans with the Trump administration urging US citizens to leave immediately to avoid becoming targets. Earlier, an attack in September on two key Saudi oil facilities, widely believed to have been instigated by Iran, coupled with US President Donald J. Trump’s hesitant response to the assault and the earlier downing of a US drone by Iran, persuaded Saudi Arabia to tone down its rhetoric and explore ways of reducing tension with Iran. The spectre of a Saudi Iranian rapprochement was put on hold with the eruption in recent months of anti-government protests in Lebanon and Iraq that threatened to throw a monkey wrench into Iran’s strategy of exerting regional influence through proxies. While it is likely to remain on hold amid the escalating tension, it has not been taken off the table. Earlier, the United Arab Emirates reached out to Iran after the Islamic republic was sought to have instigated attacks on tankers off the Emirati coast. The “sequence of events shows that, thus far, the Iranian strategy of calculated counter-escalation is working… By escalating on its own, Iran forced a number of key players to change their cost-benefit calculus,” said Eldar Mamedov, an advisor to the social-democrats in the European parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee. While that may be a positive development in and of itself, it also means that regional US allies, with the exception of Israel that wholeheartedly endorsed the killing of Mr Soleimani, are likely to be more circumspect in their support of the US amid escalating tensions. Already, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have called for restraint in the wake of Mr Soleimani’s death. Mr Soleimani’s killing has widened the opening for a tit-for-tat war in which Iran has the advantage of being a master of asymmetric warfare and at playing in grey areas. Amid massive speculation about how it will respond to the killing, Iran is likely to take its time and strike out of the left field, potentially prompting an American response that again risks playing into Iranian hands. “The Iranians will definitely respond, but not in a way that triggers an all-out war, which they know they would lose,” said Iran expert Dina Esfandiary. In a further indication of US misreading of the tea leaves, the killing of Mr Soleimani threatens to amount to a gift of God for Iranian hardliners who are now expected to win next month’s parliamentary election in Iran. A hardline victory would spotlight the United States’ repeated shooting of an own goal by adopting policies that undermine its own long-standing aim of persuading Iran to moderate its policies and tone down its revolutionary rhetoric. Rather than provide incentives, like with the 2015 nuclear accord, US policy has more often than not reinforced perceptions in Tehran that the United States’ real goal was regime change. Mr Trump’s former national security advisor John Bolton reinforced those perceptions in response to Mr Soleimani’s killing: “Hope this is the first step to regime change in Tehran,” he tweeted. US policy prompted Iran to adopt a defence and security policy that compensated for the Islamic republic’s intrinsic weakness by emphasizing the very things the United States has long wanted to see change. These include Iran’s successful use of proxies across the Middle East. At the bottom line, the strengthening of Iranian hardliners not only undermines US policy goals but also risks putting the United States in difficult, if not impossible and at times humiliating positions, and sucking it into a conflict for which it is ill-equipped. Said political anthropologist Negar Razavi: “The US foreign policy establishment has collectively created a culture of expert impunity when it comes to Iran, which has contributed in no small part to the unstable and dangerous policy conditions we see under Trump today.” (Views expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL)

The killing of Qasem Soleimani will lead to the strengthening of Iranian hardliners

After the US drone strike that killed Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi paramilitary chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis on Friday, Washington is disappointed with European reaction as it is reaching out to its allies around the world in order to gain support.&nbsp;

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is spearheading the campaign and called officials worldwide over the support of the strikes that was praised by US President Donald Trump and US-ally Israel. However, most of the countries have warned that the latest strike would trigger regional tensions.&nbsp;

Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/world-cannot-afford-another-gulf-war-says-un-chief-after-us-kills-iran-general-271986">'World cannot afford' another Gulf war, says UN chief after US kills Iran general</a>

"I spent the last day and a half, two days, talking to partners in the region, sharing with them what we were doing, why we were doing it, seeking their assistance. They've all been fantastic," the secretary of state said in an interview with Fox News.

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Discussed with Iraqi President Salih <a href="https://twitter.com/RealDonalTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDonalTrump</a>’s decision to take defensive action to protect U.S. personnel and interests abroad, and I reaffirmed that the U.S. remains committed to de-escalation.
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecPompeo/status/1213207450293288960?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 3, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Also read:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/opinions/the-killing-of-iranians-general-qasem-soleimani-and-its-consequences-271884">The killing of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani and its consequences</a>

"Frankly, the Europeans haven't been as helpful as I wish that they could be," he said. Pompeo also said that talks with US-allies, other than the ones in Middle East, were&nbsp;not "quite as good".&nbsp;

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and I discussed the decisive defensive action <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDonaldTrump</a> employed in Baghdad to protect American lives. I emphasized that de-escalation is the United States’ principal goal.
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecPompeo/status/1213141648475119621?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 3, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Following the killing, EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell called on all involved parties "to exercise maximum restraint and show responsibility in this crucial moment."&nbsp;

French President Emmanuel Macron urged those involved to act with "restraint" and British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab called for de-escalation.&nbsp;

"The Brits, the French, the Germans all need to understand that what we did, what the Americans did, saved lives in Europe as well," Pompeo said.

Pompeo's twitter timeline was filled with the calls from leaders across the world.&nbsp;

The leaders with whom Pompeo talked include Iraqi President Barham Salih and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.&nbsp;

Interestingly, the US Secretary of State reached out to senior government officials of most of the countries, but in Pakistan's case, Pompeo called upon Army Chief Qamar Bajwa.&nbsp; 
&nbsp;

After the US drone strike that killed Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi paramilitary chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis on Friday, Washington is disappointed with European reaction as it is reaching out to its allies around the world in order to gain support.

After the US drone strike that killed Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi paramilitary chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis on Friday, Washington is disappointed with European reaction as it is reaching out to its allies around the world in order to gain support. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is spearheading the campaign and called officials worldwide over the support of the strikes that was praised by US President Donald Trump and US-ally Israel. However, most of the countries have warned that the latest strike would trigger regional tensions. Also read: 'World cannot afford' another Gulf war, says UN chief after US kills Iran general "I spent the last day and a half, two days, talking to partners in the region, sharing with them what we were doing, why we were doing it, seeking their assistance. They've all been fantastic," the secretary of state said in an interview with Fox News. Discussed with Iraqi President Salih @realDonalTrump’s decision to take defensive action to protect U.S. personnel and interests abroad, and I reaffirmed that the U.S. remains committed to de-escalation. — Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) January 3, 2020 × Also read: The killing of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani and its consequences "Frankly, the Europeans haven't been as helpful as I wish that they could be," he said. Pompeo also said that talks with US-allies, other than the ones in Middle East, were not "quite as good". Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and I discussed the decisive defensive action @realDonaldTrump employed in Baghdad to protect American lives. I emphasized that de-escalation is the United States’ principal goal. — Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) January 3, 2020 × Following the killing, EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell called on all involved parties "to exercise maximum restraint and show responsibility in this crucial moment." French President Emmanuel Macron urged those involved to act with "restraint" and British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab called for de-escalation. "The Brits, the French, the Germans all need to understand that what we did, what the Americans did, saved lives in Europe as well," Pompeo said. Pompeo's twitter timeline was filled with the calls from leaders across the world. The leaders with whom Pompeo talked include Iraqi President Barham Salih and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. Interestingly, the US Secretary of State reached out to senior government officials of most of the countries, but in Pakistan's case, Pompeo called upon Army Chief Qamar Bajwa.

Soleimani killing: US reaches out to allies, Pompeo says Europeans aren't being 'helpful'

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'Reckless and dangerous': Iran's Foreign Minister Araghchi denounces Trump's remarks

It will be a 'war crime' if US attacks Iran's cultural sites: Foreign minister Zarif

The killing of Qasem Soleimani will lead to the strengthening of Iranian hardliners

Soleimani killing: US reaches out to allies, Pompeo says Europeans aren't being 'helpful'