Iran’s supreme leader appointed assassinated commander Qassem Soleimani’s deputy, Brig.-Gen. Esmail Ghaani, to replace him as head of the country’s Quds Forces, Iranian media reported.
The force’s programme “will be unchanged from the time of his predecessor,” Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a statement published by state media.
Soleimani, and architect of Iran’s spreading military influence in the Middle East, was killed near Baghdad airport on Friday.
Iraqi caretaker Prime Minister Adel Abdel-Mahdi condemns the U.S. attack in Baghdad, calling it an “aggression’’ on Iraq and a “dangerous escalation.”
Abdel-Mahdi pays tribute to Abu Mahdi Al-Mohandes, the deputy head of Iraq’s powerful pro-state Hashd Shaabi militia, and Soleimani, saying they were “symbols” of Iraq’s victory over Islamic State militants.
“The assassination of an Iraqi military commander is an aggression on Iraq as a state, government, and people,” Abdel-al-Mahdi says in a statement.
“Carrying out physical liquidation operations against leading Iraqi figures or from a brotherly country on the Iraqi lands is a flagrant violation of Iraq’s sovereignty and a dangerous escalation that triggers a destructive war in Iraq, the region and the world,” he adds.
Also, Britain has increased its security and readiness at military bases in the Middle East after the U.S. killed Iranian Maj.-Gen. Soleimani, Sky News reported on Friday without citing sources.
Britain has about 400 military personnel in Iraq, who help provide training in the country. They are mostly located at the Taji base, north of Baghdad.
“The safety and security of our personnel are of paramount importance and we keep our force protection measures under constant review.
“We do not comment on specific force protection measures,” a spokesman from Britain’s Ministry of Defence said when asked about the report.
Dozens of U.S. citizens working for foreign oil companies in the Iraqi oil city of Basra were preparing to leave the country on Friday, company sources said.
The U.S. embassy in Baghdad urged all citizens to depart Iraq immediately, hours after the U.S. killed Soleimani and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in an air strike.
The evacuation will not affect operations, production or exports, Iraqi oil officials said.
United Arab Emirates Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said that wisdom and political solutions must prevail over confrontation and escalation, in comments published on Twitter after a U.S. airstrike killed a top Iranian general.
British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab urged all parties to de-escalate after the U.S. killed Soleimani.
“We have always recognised the aggressive threat posed by the Iranian Quds force led by Qasem Soleimani.
Following his death, we urge all parties to de-escalate. Further conflict is in none of our interests,” he said in an emailed statement. (dpa/NAN)
