US tells citizens to leave Iraq immediately as tensions flare with Iran

The US State Department on Friday has told US citizens to leave Iraq “immediately,” after an American strike killed top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad.

The State Department released a security alert on social media as tensions flare with Iran.

Due to heightened tensions in Iraq and the region, we urge U.S. citizens to depart Iraq immediately. Due to Iranian-backed militia attacks at the U.S. Embassy compound, all consular operations are suspended. U.S. citizens should not approach the Embassy”, the State Department tweeted.

It was earlier on Friday, the US announced that it had killed the commander of the Iranian Quds Force in a strike on Baghdad´s international airport, which also killed the deputy chief of Iraq´s powerful Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary force.

On the other hand, Iran has declared a three-day mourning period for Soleimani and warned that ‘severe revenge’ will be taken against those who killed him, referring to the US.

“Martyrdom was the reward for his ceaseless efforts in all these years,” Iran´s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Twitter.

“With him gone, God willing, his work and his path will not be stopped, but severe revenge awaits the criminals who bloodied their foul hands with his blood and other martyrs´ in last night´s incident.”