US Air Strike Kills Iran's Top Commander Qasem Soleimani

Qasem Soleimani, Iranian top commander was killed on Friday in a strike by the US on Baghdad's international airport. In response to the attack, Iranian officials have promised a revenge attack. This attack by the US on Iran amplifies the ongoing bilious tensions between both nations.

Donald Trump, had ordered the neutralizing of Soleimani after a protesting band crowded the US embassy in the country. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader promised to take "severe revenge" for the death of Soleimani.

Baghdad's international airport was hit by a salvo of missiles, hitting a convoy of an Iraqi paramilitary force that has strong relations with Iran, the Hashed al-Shaabi.

Soleimani "was martyred in an attack by America on Baghdad airport this morning,” described by the Revolutionary Guard Corps, post attack.

READ ALSO: Booting Of Our Officials From United States A 'Mistake' - China

It was confirmed by the Hashed that Soleimani and his deputy chief, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, were victims of the attack, in what was described as a “US strike that targeted their car on the Baghdad International Airport road.”

Although, before his death, Muhandis was known as the Hashed's deputy chief, but it was general knowledge that he led the group, calling the major shots.

As head, he led the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force and served as Iran's pointman on Iraq, usually paying a visit to the sister country when trouble hit.

Both Soleimani and his deputy chief were sanctioned by the US, after US defense unit, the Pentagon, said that Soleimani was “actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region,” and that it ensured to take “decisive defensive action to protect US personnel abroad by killing Qasem Soleimani,” leaving out the how.

Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's Foreign Minister, condemned the strike, calling it “extremely dangerous and a foolish escalation,” 

The country's prime minister described the attack as a “flagrant violation” of a security treaty between both nations, stating that the attack would “spark a devastating war in Iraq.”

 “All resistance fighters must be ready, as an upcoming conquest and a great victory await us,”  Qais al-Khazali, head of the Asaib Ahl al-Haq, enjoined, in a handwritten note obtained by AFP.

Trump's 'alterations of the rules'

According to analysts, the attack on Iran by the US would change the relationship between the US and Iran, stretching the already-tenuous relationship.

Ramzy Mardini, a researcher at the Institute of Peace in the US said, “Trump changed the rules -— he wanted (Soleimani) eliminated."

He added that Soleimani “didn’t appreciate that his actions of threatening another hostage crisis at the (US) embassy changed the way things were going to be done,”

The attack was US's response to a rocket attack that had happened days prior that claimed the life of an American contractor wokring in Iraq.

Trump blamed Iran for a series of attacks that had been targeted at the US, and the protesters that laid siege on the American embassy. He said,  “They will pay a very BIG PRICE! This is not a Warning, it is a Threat.”

US senators were unaware that the attack on Iran would be conducted, this was disclosed by Eliot Engel, House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman.

The US-Iran relationship has declined ever since Washington backed out of the landmark nuclear deal with Tehran in 2018.