being killed in the u.s. ordered strikes inside iraq today it's just coming up to 4 g.m.t. hours on stan grant and we're bringing the rolling coverage here on al-jazeera of a major breaking news story the lightest of course this hour the united states has killed iran's most senior military come out it seems all the body was assassinated in an airstrike in the iraqi capital baghdad he was the leader of the elite al quds force that's a division of the revolutionary guards corps which has far reaching influence in iraq syria lebanon and beyond that is read you the pentagon statement the pentagon has released this statement confirming that the strike was carried out on the orders of the u.s. president on trumpet says the statement reads at the direction of the president the u.s. military has taken decisive defensive action to protect u.s. personnel the broader by killing solomonic the head of the iranian revolutionary guards could force a u.s.

designated foreign terrorist organization that's important that it is designated a terrorist organization it also goes on to say donald trump after authorizing that tori's has also or that strike is also tweeted no woods just a big picture of the american flag well it wasn't just the man who was killed the u.s. forces of also killed the deputy commander of iranian backed coalition of groups in iraq the hondas from the popular mobilization forces was killed when the airstrike targeted his vehicle on the road to the baghdad airport and we have correspondents covering the story from all angles gabrial of zone though is in washington d.c. dosage a bar is live in tehran 1st i will go to some other 14 who are standing by in baghdad and some other just bring us the latest of what you've been hearing there the response to this strike the the the response on the street some of the celebrations indeed we've seen from some people in iraq to this killing of cousins on the money

. well it's passed down here in baghdad and many people are waking up to what is some incredibly consequential news for them and there will be a quite mixed reaction so on the one hand there will be some relief and celebration among those who have basically long opposed iranian influence in iraq and this includes the protesters who have been demonstrating for almost 3 months now in tahrir square if been demonstrating against iranian influence in iraq and specifically also the role of the popular mobilization forces in committing violence for example against demonstrators they've been asking the government to rein in these groups and for a complete overhaul to the political system for so for those demonstrators in tahrir square of course the news of the deaths of kassam so their money as well as the on $100.00. is a welcome news and they have the crowds who have camped out there overnight as they

have done for 3 months now they have basically welcomed this news and some of them have been celebrating but of course there are also many iraqis who are now very worried basically the capital is bracing itself for what will happen next iran is already about to retaliate and we can we can expect quite a strong response from the popular mobilization of forces which is this school of rainy and bad armed groups that are headed by a father who fayyad but also the 2nd in charge of almost the only $100.00 who was killed in this airstrike in this popular mobilization forces this is the crowds that basically stage the attack on the u.s. embassy that laid siege to the u.s. embassy for 2 days in response to an earlier u.s. air strike on positions of some of its members so we can see that there is a gradual escalation does this strike. killing customs and money and. this is

just the latest escalation but we've seen this increase in tensions between the u.s. and iran on iraq many iraqis worry that they might be caught up in the middle that if there is indeed greater escalation if there is actual armed confrontation that this will happen here and that that iraq is will pay the price for it some other thank you for that of course you study they will come back to you as we get more information to had better bring you now a tweet from iran's foreign minister now he's tweeted this just a short while back the u.s. act of international terrorism targeting at assassinating general saw the money the in capitals the most effective force fighting dyess isis nuestra al qaeda et al is extremely dangerous and a foolish escalation the u.s. bears responsibility for or consequences of its road adventurism let's go to georgia bar and our who joins us from tehran endorse or as you've been reporting

to us that iran is making very clear that there will be a response to this strike today. yes certainly we have heard from the former head of iran's revolutionary guards more center as a who tweeted that there will be severe consequences and revenge against the united states we've also heard that there has been an emergency meeting called for the national supreme national security council in the islamic republic now this is a body that's headed by president hassan rouhani as well as the head of the country's judiciary as well as the speaker of parliament this is a very powerful organization that deals with iran's foreign policy decisions and it is visors by the supreme leader himself ayatollah ali khamenei and we've also been waiting to find out what friday prayer service will be like this morning in tehran we've also been i've been speaking to somewhere near iranians who have been waking

up to this news about the assassination of the money now many people are just in shock and they acquitted him not only with iran's military successes across the region but they also credit him with keeping this country safe and its borders safe they say that had it not been for us and so the money of his efforts in the courts force eisel would have been on the outskirts of town ron and surrounding areas so very very important figure in iran also he was very close to the supreme leader awesome salomone had fought in the iran iraq war between 1998 and then he rose up within the ranks of the revolutionary guards and we believe he was appointed to the head of the police force some point in the early ninety's and he's a very quiet and reserved figure many people didn't know him personally was very very. quiet and reserved he didn't do many interviews all his life there was one

important interview that he did with state t.v. reporter last year to talk about the war with lebanon on between hezbollah and lebanon in 2000 and. and that was the only official interview that we've seen from him during his entire career so he's a very important figure and his death will certainly have large and stream far reaching ramifications in the middle east goes to thank you for that well of course this breaking news we are bringing to you right now we're getting the facts on the ground what the immediate response to this is we'll continue to analyze this and look at the complications the the way this might lead the implications of all of this is war but right now we're just getting a response particularly from those countries directly affected iraq we've heard from iran we've heard from now we go to the united states gabrial is on the is standing by in washington d.c. and deborah you've been monitoring all of the official statements all of the tweets

that have been coming out including from president trump what more can you tell us right now. yeah there's hasn't been any official on camera reaction from the president united states or the secretary of state or even from the head of the department of defense the defense secretary so we're having to rely on statements from the most senior lawmakers within the united states and there have been a few and i want to just bring 2 of them to your attention because it kind of gives you an idea of the perspective on both sides that we're starting to get here one is from lindsey graham a republican senator who is probably trumps closest ally in the senate he tweeted shortly after it was confirmed that the u.s. killed so the money he tweeted in part wow the price of killing and injuring americans has just gone up drastically major blow to the iranian regime that has

american blood on its hands so the money was one of the most ruthless and vicious members of the ayatollah his regime he had american blood on his hands i appreciate president donald trump's bold action against iranian aggression this sort of summarizes if you will the can graduate tory messages from some republican lawmakers that we've been seeing on twitter and in a couple statements there haven't been a lot quite frankly but lindsey graham is pretty significant because he's such a senior republican and so close to donald trump but on the other side we haven't seen a lot from the democrats commenting yet at all but we did hear from chris murphy a senator who's on the foreign relations committee he was slightly more skeptical in his tweet he said so of money was an enemy of the united states that's not a question the question is this as reports suggest did america just assassinate without any congressional authorization the 2nd most powerful person and he ran

knowingly setting off a potential massive regional war that's from a democratic senator chris murphy i think what you're getting here in washington right now as everybody is is sort of waiting for president donald trump to speak and or tweet is i think you're hearing. from the republicans and some they're very congratulatory sort of a victory lap if you will but you also are hearing both officially and unofficially a little bit of concern and that concern is this that the u.s. government and donald trump trump called this strike that killed so low money and others. and that was a very dramatic move but the question now is is the u.s. and is trump prepared with the consequences nobody knows what those consequences

are yet but what is the u.s. prepared for that now that preparation tell us more about something you brought to us in the previous seller and that is that troops elites american troops in the id 2nd airborne have arrived this day in kuwait how does that factor in to what we're seeing playing out here. yeah it's complicated the 82nd airborne army's elite fighting division based in fort bragg did confirm about 40 minutes ago. that paratroopers have arrived at an air base in kuwait it's unclear if these paratroopers are a new deployment that war or scents. very recently or if this was part of the 750 troops that the pentagon announced a couple days ago that were being sent to the region nevertheless it's clear that the u.s.

has troops on standby perhaps could be moving them now but as of now we can confirm that paratroopers from the 82nd airborne have arrived in kuwait it's important to point out that this base in kuwait is where. the american military has a base there and this is where the 100 marines were sent and airlifted into the baghdad embassy at the moment that the protesters reached the main gate and almost breached in tiredly into the u.s. embassy and when the situation was the most tense a couple days ago that's where the 100 marines came from and that base in kuwait so clearly the u.s. is moving more military assets to the region now 750 that's number that was announced by the pentagon again a couple days ago that's not a lot of troops in the whole scope of the american military presence around the world and what they have but clearly there are. plans being put in place by the

pentagon as one would expect it was on live there from washington d.c. now you are watching right now al-jazeera is live rolling right you coverage of the significant story emerging out of iraq today enough for those of you just joining us and we'll bring you the license for those of you who've been we will suppose that g.'s for any. repartition but that's the nature of what we're working with here we are bring you information as we get it what we understand right now is that an american is ordered by us president donald trump has killed a significant leader of the iranian revolutionary guard a general i lead of the croods forces custom solomonic someone who was a personal confidant of the supreme leader of iran and he has also killed another significant leader of one of the militia groups inside iraq linked directly to iran but the money is a significant figure and he has been killed here today in this us strike iran is

promising retaliation let's take a look now back at the life of custom solomonic this man loved by iranians and the general who the u.s. and israel has cooled an enemy for years. major general custom solomon a was a senior commander of iran's islamic revolutionary guard corps and the hit of its a late could force he graduated to the role 20 years ago and was regarded as the mastermind of iran's military strategy in the region he really spoken public but gave this interview in october saying iran's i.o.c. had expanded islamic resistance to half a 1000000 square kilometers connecting iran through iraq and syria to lebanon on. the codes for us runs a runs foreign military inclined to stein operations the us attributed it to campaigns in iraq lebanon syria germany kenya bahrain in turkey so money delegated

iranian diplomats to meet with u.s. officials after the september 11th attacks and they briefly worked together against the taliban but the relationship soon deteriorated during the iraq war the us sit around through the could schools and shia militias killed more than $600.00 american service members 17 percent of all u.s. deaths in the war the us and iran's priorities aligned once more in the fight against eisel but didn't evolve past the battlefield in april last year the u.s. designated the islamic revolutionary guard corps as a terrorist organization with this designation we are sending a clear signal a clear message to iran's leaders including his band of thugs that the united states is bringing all pressure to bear to stop the regime's outlaw behavior we ask that our allies and partners around the world do the same. but salomone had the full support of iran's government he received iran's highest military award last

year as tensions high sions between the u.s. and iran so the money continued to support shia militias including the hizbollah brigades who were targeted in 5 u.s. is strikes last week after they fired rockets at a us space he survived many attacks on his life inside iran and uproot but it would be in iraq where shia militias trained by his could force killed hundreds of americans that the u.s. indeed his writing age 62 ballasts his era now in just a week things have escalated dramatically between the u.s. and iranian backed groups in iraq last week a rocket attack struck an iraqi military base killing an american contractor 2 days later u.s. launched airstrikes against a pro iranian armed group the hizbollah brigades $27.00 of its fighters were killed that enraged members and supporters of pro iranian paramilitary groups in iraq who stormed the american embassy compound in baghdad so we're

going to go to you now mohamad miranda who is the head of the american studies department at the university of tehran who joins us from the iranian capital it's good to have you with us a guest we had on earlier was very blunt in her assessment she said frankly she considers this a declaration of war by the united states against iran the united states of course considered customs all the money a terrorist accused him of planning further actions against u.s. personnel and u.s. diplomats what's your immediate assessment of what's happened today and the consequences that flow from that. it is definitely an act of war because the regime in washington has assassinated a senior iranian military figure it is also an act of war against the iraqi yeah. we just seem to have lost mohammad marandi there if we get him back we will

come back to him in the main tell us more bring you some more reaction that we're getting we're getting reaction as it's coming in of course to this and so much as it is these days comes across on twitter now the un special rapporteur. has condemned the killings she tweeted that targeted killings of some sort of money and. hondas are most likely unlawful and violates international human rights law outside the context of active hostilities in the use of drones or other means for targeted killing is almost never likely to be illegal let's discuss the consequences of that now with hillary mann leverett who's a former white house national security official she's currently see a poet political risk consultancy and joins us live from washington d.c. it's nice to have you back with us you've been with us throughout this story of

course as it's developed i really want to get your response to that tweet we've seen from the un's special rapporteur who says very clearly she considers this unlawful a violation of international human rights law outside the context of active hostilities and that the use of drones is almost never likely to be legal how do you see the legalities of this. i agree i'm not i'm a harvard law school a trained lawyer myself i agree with her in terms of international law and even more importantly for us for myself as an american an american lawyer for u.s. domestic law the fact that the united states designated the money on its own you know laterally as a foreign terrorist does not give the united states in law or in practice even the right to kill him it in u.s. law gives the united states there the right to seize his assets or not to kill him and i think here again we're looking at u.s.

government under president trump i mean unfortunately even under just under president trump prior presidents have been under this dissolution as well that somehow we can control the situation in and with iran that has just been flagrantly not true for 40 years we have underestimated that country it's an enormous country 80000000 people sophisticated educated it has a very significant conventional military force it has a significant asymmetric military force it knows every inch of where the americans are and have been around the middle east and has done so in a deliberate way i think since president bush 1st designated the entire country of iran as part of the axis of evil back in 2002 so my concern is the united states is yet again underestimating the islamic republic of iran and and what it can do just on the legalities we saw president obama ordered the killing of osama bin laden we

saw president trump ordered the killing of dudie the leader. in this case you are talking about someone here he what you said about someone being declared a terrorist doesn't give you carte blanche to kill them but he was to clear a terrorist crudes is declared a terrorist organization they have been attacks on american interest. an american contractor has died in recent weeks and the pentagon says that he was planning further attacks on american personnel and american diplomats given that and the history of attacks against people who were declared terrorists wasn't donald trump within his rights as commander in chief to order this attack. there there continues to be no basis in u.s. law or the prior killings of others designated as terrorists and as vile as their their their acts have been did not give the united states in those cases either carte blanche to kill them there just was no 2 popular u.s.

response to it because those figures are so reviled and they were so reviled around the world i think what we've done with possums all in miami though is of an order of magnitude different this is a person who was widely respected inside iran as the country as one of the key architects for defending that country and also was someone who had wide contacts throughout the region so as the united states goes on this path of killing someone that we don't like the idea that iran is not going to respond is wishful thinking that will make the debacle of of invading iraq look like a walk in the park i do not think that president trump really understands what he's gotten the united states into going up against iran i would argue that going to war with iran will be the most significant adversary that the united states has encountered since world war 2 they are certainly the most capable adversary that we

have encountered since world war 2 and the legality of how people may argue what the united states in this case is going to look like a minor footnote in history who is thank you and of course we will come back to you if you can throughout bridge of the story mohammad marandi was speaking to before is the head of the american studies department at the university of tehran we were speaking to before unfortunately we lost the law and he's been good enough to stick around this come back to us now before we lost you you were essentially saying that you consider the u.s. action today adik the rush to war just pick up that thought and explore that force . yes i think it's clearly an act of war the united states has murdered a senior military official in iran person a well known person who is highly popular in the country the united states has also in my opinion carried out an act of war against the iraqi state and the iraqi

people because they he also murdered matthew on mind this who is a senior iraqi military official that is a part of the iraqi armed forces the americans of course will justify this act of terrorism and war but it's there's just no comparison with anything else that the united states has done over the last few decades they've this is targeting the iranian people it is targeting the iraqi people and i in my opinion western citizens should leave the region immediately if i was in the united arab emirates in iraq or elsewhere i would think of leaving as soon as possible mohammed. taking your your comments there about a direct act of war but then contrasting that with what we hear from the united

states the pentagon says that he was someone who's considered a terrorist hitting a terrorist organization who had already other seen attacks against american interests and american people and was planning further attacks given that and given given the targeted nature of the strike targeting this particular individual and another does that really made a declaration of war against iran it was this a targeted action against someone declared a terrorist. the united states is not authorized to dictate terms to the international community just because an american leader or the american regime says that someone is a terrorist does not make them a terrorists this is not the 19th century this is not the height of the western empire where they dictate terms to the periphery and to the colonies iran is a sovereign and independent country iraq is

a sovereign independent country awesome soleimani general hossam so their money is a an iranian national hero the iranians consider him as martyrs overwhelmingly iraqis consider him as a martyr he was the person who engineered the defeat of isis in iraq alongside the iraqi armed forces including the popular mobilization units and that's why i will match the alamo hondas who is also a senior iraqi figure is considered to be a hero these 2 men are the people who have spared the region and beyond from isis that the united states through its foolish policies has helped to create alongside the saudis and other regimes in this region other terrorist groups. which we see right now and being supported by the same countries if it wasn't for him if it wasn't for people like him and i would match the on one hand this this region

would be would have black flags flying over many of the capitals today so again for the americans to declare something to say someone is a terrorist i think it's it's ridiculous for any of us to even take such a statement seriously and by implication take sapt american actions resulting from such statements he. we're assessment of the united states and how you see its role in the region let me put a counter assessment about iran that we hear often iran is expansionist in the region iran is involved in countries like yemen that is involved in a proxy war there against saudi arabia through its groups like hizbollah in lebanon it continues to ferment on wrists and to seek to expand its influence it is actively hostile to israel it has sought to impose itself on iraq despite iraqi

people rising up in protest and saying they don't want iran to dictate their future it is just in the past week carried out military exercises with russia and china that the united states in its light a strategic assessment says the 2 most significant threats directly to the united states so if we look at that and we look at the u.s. actions towards iran and iran's actions in recent weeks wouldn't it be right for the u.s. to say we have to defend our interests and the interests of our friends and allies in the region against iranian aggression. well you have to give me a few minutes here 1st of all who started the war in yemen who invaded the country who imposed starvation on the country with the united states and saudi arabia that have carried out crimes against humanity and the europeans are just as complicit who invaded iraq who armed saddam hussein in the 1st place who gave saddam hussein

chemical weapons use against iranians and his own people it was the europeans and the united states who then attacked iraq and destroyed the infrastructure who then imposed sanctions on the country where up to a 1000000 people died under those sanctions who then invaded iraq and destroyed the country it was the the american regime that did that who is continues to act with impunity in iraq and murders iraqi soldiers who are fighting isis it is the regime in washington who created al qaeda in afghanistan who created the menace that brought about $911.00 it is the united states who supported the extremist groups in syria who destroyed syria who is responsible for the rise of isis al qaeda jaiswal a slum and other such terrible evil groups that are wahhabi oriented funded by saudi arabia who the israeli regime allowed to be base alongside their borders with syria alongside they've all occupied golan heights in fact who

invaded lebanon hezbollah was created as a result of the israeli invasion of lebanon and the destruction of the country has expelled the israeli regime from lebanon it is a national liberation organization so when we look at the region we see american bases in all of the countries such as the emirates such as iraq such as syria illegal american bases in syria as we speak to steal syrian oil where the iranian bases where the iranian bases in iraq if iran is expansionist where the iranian flag. it's in iraq and lebanon and afghanistan and syria iran presents and all in all these countries are with the permission whenever they've been present tense here in iraq of the governments in order to fight these extremist groups that the americans helped to create look at the defense intelligence agency document of 2012 which admits that the united states and its allies supported the rise of these

extremist groups in syria they helped them to gain the territories between syria and iraq the same group that we now call isis so it is the americans that are guilty of destroying this region and beyond this region look at libya the destruction of the country training it into a failed state the menace of western countries in this part of the world and the rest of the world is nothing new colonialism and eurocentrism in germany and empire have been a part of this reality that we are living in but now the united states has gone too far has carried out an act of war against a sovereign country they've carried out an act of war against 2 sovereign countries and those regimes that stand by the united states in this act of war they will have to pay the price and when just on these the consequences from this because clearly we're at a point now where the law does start says one thing iran says something else we've

seen this action today iran is saying that they will be a response to this what will the response be we in an escalation phase now of this conflict that ultimately may play out as a proxy war itself within iraq. with all due respect this is not one side says one thing and then the other side says another the united states assassinated a senior government official any iran and assassinated a senior government official and iraq this is an act of war that is recognized across the globe simply because the western media will mimic what the regime says in washington doesn't make it any different from what i said these are acts of war and therefore they will pay the price i do not know what their response will be i

think the iranians and the rockies and others across the region are discussing that as we speak but if i was in them rex i would leave now if i was an american in iraq i would leave now if i was an american any part in southwest asia i would leave immediately thank you for that moment mom abroad is joining us there from tehran appreciate your analysis today mark kimmitt is the former assistant secretary of state for political military affairs under president george w. bush she was also diffuse director of plans and strategy at centcom and he joins us now from washington d.c. good to have you with us your the perfect position to try to analyze where this may go with the strategic a military and security implications of this it seems to be very finely balanced at the moment iran is threatening to tell the i.c. of the united states has carried out this strike and says it reserves the right for further action as will.