shelob ellis. run across the middle east on this friday it is a particularly tends morning after the u.s. killed the rons top military commander major general custom so the mahdi it tax happened at baghdad airport and iran is calling it an assassination the pentagon says president donald trump ordered the a tactical protect u.s. personnel of broad meanwhile the u.s. embassy in baghdad has issued an alert urging all americans to leave iraq immediately when iran's supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei has called for 3 days of national mourning for many warned of quote harsh revenge and said the attack would double down on terrans resolve to resist the united states' rocks prime minister says the strike will spark a devastating war well we'll speak to our correspondents in the region shortly but

1st this report from say that's roughly. in the early hours of friday shortly after arriving at baghdad international airport major general custom saloni an iranian war hero who led the charge against isis in iraq and syria was killed in a u.s. airstrike. his close ally the deputy head of hush those xabi an iranian backed iraqi militia. was also killed along with other members of his group u.s. missiles hit their convoy as they left the airport. so the money was commander of the kids force a unit of iran's revolutionary guard responsible for foreign operations for iran's supreme leader ayatollah ali khamenei so the money was a trusted confidant a member of his inner circle his killing in a targeted u.s. strike is the most extreme escalation in tensions between to her own and washington in recent years how many warned there will be retaliation. the cruelest people on earth assassinated the honorable commander who courageously fought for years

against the evils and bandis of the world sulaimani is martyrdom will make iran more decisive to resist america's expansionism and to defend our islam values with no doubt iran and other freedom seeking countries in the region will take his revenge into her own senior leaders met in an emergency meeting of iran's national security council many iranians see the u.s. attack as an act of war across the region there will be implications anywhere where there is an american military presence. american should should leave those countries immediately but if i was in the emirates i would leave now if i was an american in iraq i would leave now if i was an american in any part in southwest asia i would leave immediately the united nations high commissioner for human rights described the killings as a likely violation of international law the fact that the united states designated

. 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 but not to kill him . in washington reaction was split along party lines republican support of the strike senior democrats called it reckless. silliman he was a murderer but this reckless move escalates the situation with iran and increases the likelihood of more deaths and new middle east conflict our priority must be to avoid another costly war. u.s. secretary of state mike pump aoe tweeted a video showing iraqis celebrating the attack while still a money enjoyed widespread support for leading the charge to displace eisel from iraqi strongholds some iraqis blame iran for instability and interference in their country and solute money directly for the deaths of more than 500 iraqis in violent

antigovernment protests which began in october feared by his enemies inside iran has for years been one of the most popular national figures in the country the international face of iranian resistance to american pressure he remained largely untouched by the waning popularity in recent years of the country's elected government over economic issues oh you. haven't you will stop this war but we will be the ones to impose its and therefore you have to be careful about insulting the iranian people and the president of our republic. many iranians looked on so the money a someone who could protect them cut down at the height of his popularity by a u.s. strike his death marks the lowest point in iran u.s. relations in decades zain bus ravi al jazeera we have correspondents covering the story of course from all angles my camera is in washington d.c.

dosage of ari in tehran the press that speak to a some a binge of aide who is in baghdad for us all somewhat let's 1st talk about what the iraqi president has been saying he's particularly called for unity. absolutely as we've been hearing from various leaders in the iraqi political arena we've heard from the president and the prime minister calling for unity and sensually condemning this as an act of violation something that while it's iraq's sovereignty something they did not expect from an ally we heard from the prime minister earlier in the early hours saying that he wants an investigation in the urging calm and then again now from the iraqi president saying that he wants the nation to be united to be u.s. and of dark days ahead that is something that we've been also hearing from. the ground leader here in iraq saying that he has condemned this attack but he's also that there is going to be repetitions of this attack and almost in

a chorus we've heard from various factions of the political spectrum here in iraq from press one has a lead from america came from the leader of the sub movement but that outsider who has the biggest block in the iraqi parliament saying that there is going to beat up a question. and facile hazily going on to say that there is there is going to be reaction there this is a glorious and 2 words their victory so it is a tense friday afternoon here we've heard sermons in friday prayers or most have been about condemnation about urging calm but it is a tense friday here iraq's government is in a pickle now because it not just has to answer for how was this information about the movement of these 2 leaders very important in iraq so it's not just class and still in money it's also the deputy head of the popular mobilization forces a unit which was instrumental in defeating eyes of unit richard working been

working closely with american forces been so iraqi government will have to answer about this sort of intelligence failure so to speak where the movement of these leaders who are very rarely guarded how did they leak it will also have to face up to into. the pressure of the popular mobilization forces you have to remember just 48 hours ago they were attacking the u.s. embassy here in baghdad and saying that they've only been treated so that iraqi government can push out all foreign forces on it is a government that you have to realize which is an interim government which has been forced out after months of protest and cannot even pass a budget so it is going to be a difficult few days for iraq which it with bated breath or some of the debate they're joining with the very latest from baghdad or some a frank you for that update. where people into iran have been reacting with both anger and sadness to general salim i. have to get the folks in. i heard it on the radio in the taxi this morning i was waiting for the names of those killed

when i heard general salim ali's name i said oh god he was martyred unconsciously i started to cry and also realized somehow should all shall be figures were killed as well i'm calling on our government to consider the might some punishment on the us to take revenge on them. and what has the foreigner. unfortunately it's clear that wherever the u.s. enters it is after domination for its own interests general he was one who stood up gravely especially fighting i saw we all know how much effort he put into fighting them and it is very painful for us and we hope we can take revenge i express my condolences to the people and his family. that he was a key figure 100 percent they were targeting him they knew where he was surely arar won't leave it on answered i will do something i was surprised when i heard it the smalling one of my colleagues informed me i was surprised that it was possible he said his father has been crying in front of the television since 4 am i'm amazed

it's possible for this to happen to someone so important it's very strange. let's cross to dorset joins us from tehran who's been following this story from the early hours or so to tell us more about this man who's going to be taking over from major general custom civil monny. well it is the he was until just a few moments ago the deputy commander of the floats for coats forces a smile since 1907 that's when he was appointed by the supreme leader as a deputy commander and as of just a short while ago a statement was issued by the supreme leader who is the commander in chief of the armed forces in iran that this deputy is now in charge of the courts force completely he will take over where awesome sell them on the left often according to the statement by. many. brigadier general connie will continue in the path of the money that nothing will change with how the bullets force operates in

and outside of iran that their policies will continue their methods will continue and so will their ideologies we've also been seeing some very moving pictures from the hometown of awesome solo money in caravan province where people have come out in the thousands carrying pictures of the late general who was killed and there are showing their emotions out on full force and display for the world to see how upset they are of course we also heard from various high ranking officials within iran about the fact that there will be repercussions there will be revenge that iran will seek in the coming days and hours waiting for a statement to be issued following an emergency meeting that's been chaired by the supreme leader himself of the supreme national security council and the door so i wonder what she needs pictures now of people on the streets as you say showing their emotions is there

a feeling that people feel frankly betrayed and isolated by the u.s. and perhaps the international community to. certainly this so-called u.s. pressure of maximum pressure campaign that's been waged on iran since the trump administration withdrew from the nuclear deal last year and imposed a series of sanctions on iran there's been a feeling that they are isolating around further and further from the international community and trying to sever all of its ties with the international countries abroad and iranians feel that this is very very unjust that they're being punished for having a peaceful nuclear program a civilian nuclear program that according to officials doesn't have a military aspect to it the iranians but have always said that the united states cannot be trusted the supreme leader has said that they are they have this carrot

and stick policy towards iran so this is being seen as the ultimate betrayal by the americans when it comes to iran that there's been 40 years of animosity between the 2 countries since the revolution of 1979 and the hostage taker over of the u.s. embassy in tehran on the amber forth in 1079 where 52 diplomats were how the by university students for over fire 444 days because the carter administration allowed the shah of iran to enter the united states receive cancer treatment and the iranians wanted him to come back to send trial for his crimes in the country so there's a long history here between iran and the united states and there are reasons historical reasons why they don't trust each other but this is now a whole new chapter it unleashes a new era of hate and a new era of revenge seeking by iranians and their supporters not only in iran but in the entire region the middle east the president hassan rouhani has said that

there will be revenge sought by the iranian nation but also by its friends and allies in the region so we are expecting some strong reaction from regional allies of iran including lebanon and hamas in gaza so such a bar there joining us live from tehran with the very latest or so thank you. well of course this death has exacerbated tense relations between iran and the united states and has raised very definite concerns over retaliation by the revolutionary guard presence president donald trump hasn't made any further comments about the strike yet but other u.s. politicians have responded well mike hanna is live in washington d.c. for us so mike i believe that we have some new commentary from the states take us through it there is indeed well reaction from politicians has been divided strictly along partisan lines republicans generally welcoming the attack democrats

to a person criticizing it heavily we've heard from former vice president joe biden who says this is thrown a match into the box of the region we've had a tweet from republican senator lindsey graham welcoming this act and the most recent tweet comes from former national security advisor john bolton who has to say congratulations to all involved in eliminating because some solar money long in the making this was a decisive blow against iran's maligned activities worldwide hope this is a 1st step to regime change in tehran now this is very significant because john bolton was fired by president trump back in september although john bolton insists that he resigned of his own accord the reason for this was differences with the trumpet ministration over afghanistan north korea and in particular iran many around president felt that john bolton's naked ideas about regime change would

create a conflict in the region once again a few months later this appears to have been reversed and john bolton the parent lee. seeking vindication for his very hardline position in the latest attack by president trump forces and mike americans are also being asked to leave the region on a. state department has issued a travel advisory advising all americans to immediately leave the region certainly is an extreme measure earlier the embassy had called for people to stop travel to the region knol there is a direct call from state department for all american civilians to leave now troop deployments are ongoing one must remember that after the demonstrations occurred in baghdad a stage deployment was triggered from fort bragg of 82nd airborne division this is

the quick reaction division initially 750 soldiers went but in terms of that initial deployment they would be followed by numbers of others now observers believe that the number of troops deploying from that quick reaction division are likely to increase in the hours and days ahead michaela there joining me with the very latest in reaction from washington d.c. mike thank you well mark kimmitt is the former assistant secretary of state for political military affairs under president george w. bush an earlier he gave us his perspective on how the u.s. might respond to any retaliation from iraq. well the roadmap for the united states government is that they will respond forcefully to any further actions by the iranians what the american government is saying is they're fed up after 40 years of revolutionary movements inside of the middle east being propagated by the iranian regime. i was struck by the ferocity of the attacks both against the.

hizbullah bases and also the drone strike attack which killed. qassam sort of mani in and of the hondas it demonstrates to me that the u.s. government is not going to do this half measures the expression we used in the u.s. they seem to have taken the gloves off and at this point the united states seemed to be committed to this and we're going to have to see in the days weeks ahead the response that's coming from the iranians the united states if it goes to war will typically use its conventional capabilities. iran if it goes to war will use its unconventional capabilities it learned in the war against iraq in the 1970 s. and 1980 s. what a conventional war looks like against the iraqis and i don't think they're ever going to fight that way again so i think what you'd see from the iranians is targeted assassinations you'd see kidnappings you'd see drone strikes he'd see cyber

operations but you wouldn't see tanks and artillery on the battlefield the way that you would expect in a conventional force the united states wouldn't put boots on the ground in iran and i think that's the difference than the conflicts that you've talked about the boots on the ground operations that we've drawn have a tendency as you would say would get us bogged down but if you take a look at what's happening inside of libya we ran the nato air campaign without putting u.s. troops on the ground we don't have any troops on the ground now so i think the way that the united states would fight the iranians would be a conventional operation but it will be primarily a campaign of air. strikes cyber operations naval strikes but i don't think you'd see infantry divisions infantry battalions court across the border attacking into the country. you are watching al-jazeera remind us of our top story this hour. the supreme leader of iran ayatollah saeed ali how many he says those who kill

cause some sort of money should await a tougher event she radiance of mourning the death of solomonic had friday prayers and marching in iran after authorizing the strike president daltry tweeted a picture of the american flag but he's made no further comment so far as some sort of mt his death has exacerbated already tense relations between iran and the united states. let's take a look at these live pictures of kurmanbek sort of mani's hometown many in the crowd there on a morning march and holding up pictures of them our correspondent told us it was basically an outpouring of grief from a state that's felt incredibly isolated by the international community and shocked at the ferocity of these targeted killings what we do know is that a smile danny will now take over from so amman a he's the deputy commander of the force and it's believed that things for that particular force will carry on as usual

a ramifications are of course being felt across the region iraq's caretaker prime minister called the attack a massive breach of its sovereignty and says it will spark a devastating war lebanon's hezbollah leader is vowing to punish those behind these killing and china's foreign minister his call for calm and urged all sides to exercise restraint while the u.k.'s foreign secretary says all parties need to deescalate with further conflict being in no one's interests worry shalen says life for us in london hi there rory what are we hearing from europe in reaction to these targeted killings. we've had responses now from ministers and spokespeople and former leaders and the general consensus at the moment at least seems to be that this is a very dangerous moment in relations between iran and the west don't

rob the u.k. foreign secretary says that the u.k. is long recognized that sort of money in the iranian could sportswear and aggressive threats now that he's dead they say oh he says all policies should deescalate now rob is going to be speaking as we understand and might pay out later on in the day angela merkel's spokeswoman marie condemning has said that this is a dangerous point of escalation and she is prudence restraint and deescalation the french foreign ministry junior foreign minister there allen is emotional and said that this is what we feared tensions between the united states and iran are increasing and the priority of the french is to stabilize the region we've also heard from frederica marguerita of the use former high representative for foreign affairs saying that this is a dangerous escalation and that she would hopes that wisdom and rationality will

prevail of course europe has played an integral parts in negotiating the iranian nuclear deal to j.c. and i think generally the feeling now in europe is that you know if it was hanging on by a thread before the j.c. way off to the united states pulled out of it a couple of years ago it seems like that deal is pretty much dead now and the hunt for diplomacy seems to have retreated even further. there with the very latest from europe live from london we thank you. well ahmed rushdie is the director of a think tank called the house of iraq expertise foundation he joins us now live from baghdad mr rushton very warm welcome to the program what is your sense right now of how the iraq the government the caretaker government will will react well actually the prime minister on. their attack and he actually pushed the ball

toward the parliament saying you must made an immediate session about what's happening now in iraq and the parliament will held a session to morrow. saturday and the department saying the m.p.'s saying now there are between 2 main subjects i that we're going to clear up about what's what's happened on those 34 days or about the nomination of the prime minister himself because the nominating of the prime minister the new prime minister is very important issue now to try to control the situation in iraq we all know that this government it's a resigned government the prime minister is a resigned prime minister but then it's a very weak government at the same time the president should the president himself condemned the attack but at the same time he said we should control ourselves we cannot escalate everything it will be over the very dangerous issue for the future of iraq which is also shared by the hard. thought of to say dollars to study who

said that he said also he condemned the attack but at the same time he said that we must control everything we cannot as late and we cannot jeopardize the future of iraq and so ahmed rushdie what happens then in terms of a response from the popular mable mobilization forces who influences what their response will be. well there are gathering there are just start to make some sort of. speed movements about what's happening in that what's happened in those $34.00 days and also there are more not known they are more making a secure shelled positions and they are getting outside from their old positions 'd it's a war zone now it's becomes a war zone but it's still in baghdad it's still calm it's told the streets it's very calm where there is not the is no security breach until now. i'm wonder aka mad if you can reflect with me just for a 2nd about how the protesters who've been at tahrir square might feel waking up

today i feel like there was a momentum to their calls to flatten and starts again to reform politics in iraq is reforming politics off the agenda for right now. no not definitely not they will stay on top they are not involved in every think they're not involved with what's happening they they they say clearly obviously it's 'd something between iran and the us it's not our problem our main problem is what i want our men goals of the most nations to get rid of this of those political blocs and also try to make some sort of reforms for the political process by getting rid of those political blows by early elections and that's why there are so many talks now in the house of quitters that we need to announce is that we are not involved in anything of that and i wonder what conversations might be going on behind the scenes right now between the u.s.

and iraq given this encroachments on its sovereignty. yes definitely there are there are talks and there are some some sort of negotiations between the iraqi government and the u.s. 'd in the ways that how how how we can secure the green zone and how the americans can play a role in securing the green zone or i think the iraqi authorities are accepting that try to manage things while positioning with the u.s. troops here in the green zone by the same time we all know that they are now suffering from a huge pressure from the house should from the biggest block inside the parliament which is the 1st which is to be in our story. when we go to see what's happening tomorrow in the parliament it will show us exactly what's happening on the political. or on the political ground of the of iraq tomorrow there will be i think it will be a very difficult situation the parliament will will show so many things so many

difficulties even in this session itself there maybe there will be no consensus on that maybe there will be withdrawals i think the kurds will will must make some sort of a decision about their position about what's happened in iraq. rushdie they're joining us live from baghdad sir thank you. well marwan bashar is sound as he is senior political analyst and he joins us now to get involved in the discussion further marwan i'm always looking at these pictures that we're seeing out of iran and reflecting also on the u.s. is belief that their actions could lead to some sort of regime change in iran because of course there are many people there that want the government to reform but most likely could these actions not unify iran in a different way absolutely i mean i think for the short term. certainly a huge block of the society in iran will rally around the leadership because this

will be considered an act of war against iran with some silly money while considered by many to be an infamous general for many arenas he is actually a great general and while some will consider that he's that he's done bad things in syria and iraq many people things he's done great things in lebanon and palestine for example. and of course within iran itself after the 2009 green revolution where he was a major instrument vi ali how many in suppressing the iranian revolution as it was called so the man has mixed record the fact that the united states decided to kill him now of course it's it's understood that this is going to have major ramifications amplification and implications in fact i would say this has opened the next decade for the middle east and the question for me julie is why and why

now and i think probably that's the question on everyone's mind especially if you look at the recent background here we have an american president the child up 3 years ago and said we don't want. the iranian nuclear deal with don't accept what the previous president has come up with but we do not want war with iran and for 3 years. but as then trump has been consistent he slapped iran with sanctions for a primary sank and secondary sanctions crippling sanctions tough sanctions but he insisted we don't want war with iran if anything the sanctions endgame is to bring iran back to the negotiations stable orbit humiliated but yet back to diplomacy and despite the advice of michael flynn the 1st national security advisor john bolton the 2nd national security advisor benjamin netanyahu the 3rd national

security advisor mohammad missile man the 4th national security advisor or person from but i wasn't from past had not all of them for 3 years embracing sanctions instead of a military solution with iran and something happened the last few days and what was it for the last few weeks well clearly the arenas have not been sitting idle by while the sanctions have basically crippled the country and the iranians have acted and they have acted against various american. assets and installations just this week have worked and escalated tensions against american allies just the last several months for example the attack on our on call and so on so forth and clearly have been boasting of war games exercises with the likes of russia and china and acting with such confidence in the region dictating to manipulating who's going to govern iraq next and so on and so forth i think all of that brought trump

to a whole new reality after the attack on the american embassy in baghdad because in every american's mind this definitely recalls 2 attacks on america and this is one into iran that left the american presidency of jimmy carter. in rubbles from the 2nd was the american attack on the u.s. embassy in libya the also left the obama administration in robel certainly president trump was going to go on to have a recall or a repeat of that and hence we have this new radical step on the part of the president because he had his own fine line and he decided after the time i guess your hopefully we'll get a chance to talk badly tomorrow marwan i wonder if that means to some degree in uncharted territory but we'll talk more later thanks mara well you're watching now dizzier a reminder of our top story this hour. the

supreme leader of iran ayatollah ali khamenei says those who killed cost some of the money should await a tough revenge your brain into mourning the death of so mani at friday prayers and they're marching in iraq after authorizing the strike president donald trump tweeted a picture of the american flag but he's made no further comments yet for some sort of monies death has exacerbated of course already tense relations between iran and the united states. well we have correspondents covering this story from all angles store such a bar is in tehran but 1st let's speak to some of been in baghdad so osama we're hearing calls now for for unity. absolutely and that's something that has actually united all political factions in iraq coming out almost in chorus in condemnation and skiing this is a flagrant violation of iraq the sovereignty of the money the architect of iran's

influence across the region killed as he left the airport in back that along with others including the 2nd in command of the popular mobilization forces ever met the behind this we've been hearing in the last few minutes from the iraqi president urging for calm and restraint and unity and in the in the hours leading up to this we've been hearing from various political leaders including the prime minister saying that it's just was a violation be this cannot be condoned in any way shape or form we've also heard from various political factions in iraq. and also the leader of the sudras bloc a book that al subs are saying that this is going to be to putting their forces on alert some commanders calling them their their their forces on the ground their fighters on the ground rallying them.