we are following the breaking news this hour, the united states killing a senior iranian military commander on iraqi soil. i'm george howell. >> i'm natalie allen. the implications are significant. here's what we know. >> iran is vowing revenge at this point for a u.s. rocket attack that has killed its most revered military leader. this happened again early friday morning near the baghdad international airport. that strike also killing a senior member of the iranian backed popular mobilization forces. that's the same group whose supporters tried to storm the u.s. embassy earlier this week. the pentagon says it launched the attack on the direct orders of president donald trump. it blames the iranian general for the deaths of hundreds of american troops over the years and says the strike was a

defensive action. >> and iran's spiritual leader says harsh revenge awaits the criminals who killed soleimani and the foreign minister zarif blasted vowing that resistance in the region would only grow stronger. let's start this hour with arawa damon with the latest on the details of what happened. >> reporter: this targeted assassination is monument s escalation, one that can only most likely be viewed by iran as an act of war. now we have entered uncharted territory. qassem soleimani is not only a revered figure inside iran especially when it comes to the quds force, but also when it comes to a portion of the iraqi population, when it comes to iran's proxies here in iraq who

he was fairly often reported to have been sided with on the battlefield especially in the fights against isis. he's also been instrumental in helping to prop up the regime of syrian dictator bashar al assad. but this is also something that is going to potentially push the region into a sort of warfare that is going to be unlike anything that we have seen. these kinds of drastic events such as when the u.s. invaded iraq taking dictator saddam hussein out of power do tend to have unforeseen consequences. that back in 2003 very quickly led to the rise of among other things al-qaeda in iraq which then led to the rise of isis. this too very different but also to a certain degree something that is potentially going to lead to some very drastic consequences. but exactly where and how iran

is going to react, and it's difficult to imagine a scenario where iran doesn't already have a plan in place for this. but where that plan is going to unfold, how that plan is going to unfold, exactly who it is going to impact, that is something we can only speculate about at this stage. for those in iraq, there is a portion of the population that will be celebrating soleimani's death but also worried about what the repercussions from it is going to be. but then there's also the reality and that is how strong and powerful iran is in iraq both militarily and politically. arawa damon, cnn, baghdad. >> and we received this a short time ago from u.s. house speaker nancy pelosi. she is calling for immediate briefing to congress on the u.s. strike that killed soleimani, pelosi said in a written statement the full congress must be immediately briefed on this serious situation and on the next steps under consideration

by the administration including the significant escalation of the deployment of additional troops to the region. >> on this major story cnn has depth and perspective with our correspondents and analysts around the world. >> we also have our international security editor nick payton walsh, live in lunlden nick has reported extensively in the region and was the first to learn about a key aspect of how the strike was carried out. >> also our cnn anchor here with us michael holmes in the studio. he has seen first-hand the considerable damage forces loyal to soleimani had done. and our diplomatic editor nic robertson will talk about the impact we can expect throughout the riejen especially with tehran already vowing revenge. and the reaction live from iran's capital. let's start with you there in

palm beach -- west palm beach where the president is. have we seen him? have we heard from him about the time when this happened? >> reporter: good morning, natalie. well, right now this is what we have. it's obviously an ongoing situation but we learned president trump was seen leaving a secured area at his mar-a-lago resort around 6:00 p.m. this evening. his aides keeping him apprised of the events that were happening, but this is all we've heard in terms of an official response from president trump. it is a tweet. we'll pull it up for you here. all it is just an american flag. we're not expecting him to speak overnight clearly but we'll see what happens in the morning especially this is getting so much traction. now we're learning so much about the events surrounding this. we have learned that president trump was not alone. his national security advisor robert o'brien was seen at

mar-a-lago and it wasn't just hit him. kevin mccarthy he said he was proud of the president and it showed him with his advisor who of course is also his son-in-law as well as his deputy press secretary basically just taking photos around the resort. now not all u.s. lawmakers had the same positive reaction that the minority house leader kevin mccarthy did. of course on one hand republicans mostly did praise president trump, but democrats were a little bit more concerned. they talked about the consequences of his action and the fact president trump did not get authorization from congress. this is the reaction of the house intel chairman, democrat adam schiff. he said soleimani was responsible for unthinkable violence and the world is better off without him, but the congress didn't authorize and the american people don't want war with iran. all steps must now be taken to protect our forces against the almost inevitable escalation and

increased risk. natalie, as you said house speaker nancy pelosi now calling for an immediate briefing with all of congress. but i do want to note here it is not just democrats who are concerned. we have heard from these analysts, these scholars of the mideast who say this is alarming, this could trigger significant consequences, and just to give you a little context here, this is man who has repeatedly said since the 2016 campaign he wants to get out the middle east. and a lot of the analysts now say this is not going to fix that problem. in fact, this may actually make it worse. >> all right, for us there, thank you. we should be hearing from the president probably on this day. we'll wait and see. now to our nick robertson. this is uncharted territory which could have unintended consequences like we saw when the u.s. moved into iraq on saddam hussein . talk about what impact this could have on the region in the

gulf, and you even saw what happened -- the aftermath of when iran attacked the saudi oil fields. >> yeah, the iranian strike in saudi arabia recently was significant because it showed complexity. it was a multiple drone and rocket strike. so it was sophisticated. and it reduced saudi arabia's oil outpit by over a half. so what they can do in the short-term can be very effective. whether or not the united states would see that coming or its allies would see that sort of strike coming and this time and stop it ints tracks that's unclear. i think the threat falls into two areas here. one is what the proxies will do th they know exactly what's expected of them by tehran and that is attack u.s. forces and interests in syria and on the

ground and will be exposed to that in iraq potentially. potentially in the gulf as well. so there will be the threat from proxies what they may choose to do. the throttle point that the regime often goes for when it wants to escalate the situation quickly and draw international support to try to tamp things down, that's not clear that's the route they'll go this time. but what we've seen them do is throttle back or attempt to influence through the straits of h hormuz. it could escalate that. we've seen it also over the past six months incrementally escalate its enrichment of you' uranium. that's going to bring the question of how does the u.s.

and allies respond to that with air strikes, that's always been avoided until now. so that question comes on the front burner but i think these in the short-term we can expect the regime to handle this. certainly they'll feel this as an existential threat and their proxies will want to show tehran just how loyal they are and how hard they can fight. >> it does seem it's not the question if a response will come from iran but rather when and how that will play out. we'll have to see. thank you. again, let's cross over to our colleague, nick paten walsh. tell us what you've learned. >> a u.s. official says moo e, quote, this was a target of opportunity. there was a presidential authorization for this attack that was found significantly more in advance of last night's attack. so clearly a strategic message here from the united states. i'm also being told it is

essentially a preemptive move that is essentially a reflection of what the u.s. called its maximum pressure strategy that wasn't having the desired effect of changing iranian behavior. if you're looking at it through the prism of why would the united states do this, they would say we were suffering perhaps paper cuts, attacks on the embassy in baghdad, itacks on our oil fields and things have been escalated over the past months that are likely similar to the kinds of things iran will first used to try to respond to this. essentially the u.s. was enduring these kind of attacks and remember when donald trump said he called off strikes because of an attack on a drone that may have been perceived possibly as an element of u.s. weakness. our call interviewing the foreign minister around the time of the oil crisis and he said if the iran was attacked by the united states it would be, quote, all out war. and that was clearly a signal designed to be sent by him a

moderate to the trump white house who heard it very clearly, who responded through the secretary of state an hour or so later to say do not attack us or we will essentially open pandora's box. iran has seen that as an element of weakness, seen the decision not to respond on the iraqi oil fields as trump's decision to pull out of the middle east and perhaps push things a little too far. the question is how extensively and well-advised have they gained a response from here. they surely have their forces on high alert. american civilians told to leave certain areas. does it respond, does it respond through proxies, conventional warfare? highly unlikely given the mismatch it has against the u.s. military here. it will massively impact inside iran as i'm sure but you have to

ask what brought trump to this extraordinary decision, one that essentially begins a new decade. >> here on set michael holmes, you have covered that region extensively. look our viewers here in the united states and around the world who are waking up to this, help them understand who soleimani was in iran because, look, this is person who has reached beyond the borders of iran but also in that country. >> absolutely. he took off as head of the quds force in '90, '98 i think it was. he was crucially involved in the iraq war that the u.s. was fighting in iraq. iran was involved in that exporting the technology that led to the deaths of hundreds of american servicemen, explosively

formed projectiles. that was iranian technology. he's been involved in lebanon, in syria. he's executing iranian regional military strategy. was able to do a lot of things on his own, on his own recognizance. the thing is he had blood on his hands. he had a lot of blood on his hands, but to echo partly what nick was saying there, the thing is why do this at this moment? i would love to know the strategy of this. he certainly had blood on his hands. saddam hussein had blood on his hands, and taking him out led to a lot of unintended consequences and that's what i think a lot of people are concerned about. what the unintended consequence of this could be. >> michael, thank you. we want to go now to our nick robertson in lunlden for us. we just heard from the prime minister in iraq saying the air strike on baghdad's airport is an act of aggression on iraq and breach of its sovereignty that

will lead to a war in the region. but certainly everyone is saying this won't be a conventional war. it's everyone's guess how this will play out now. >> it's going to be very asymmetric because it involves proxies and proxies in countries like lebanon where they can hezbollah there which is proxy of tehran can execute attacks on neighboring israel. it can make some very significant, very damaging attacks that would draw a response from israel very, very quickly. so there's a potential for escalation there. the potential for what happens if the iranians have another strike on saudi arabia, how will the saudis respond. the tipping point to an escalation where you can't turn back can happen, very, very quickly in this region. and as we've been discussing here what has been going on has

been a slow escalation, a slow blearing if you will. the temperature has been rising. but now at this moment you really are it feels at a very real threshold where iran will recognize that it wants to respond and it will respond. but how calibrated will that response be? and they won't be able to calibrate it completely because they won't be able to control their proxies completely. but it's the calibration of that response that's going to determine whether this does literally tip into a much larger and hard to stop regional war or something that iran feels that they've done what they wanted to do. it's going to very much be determined by how iran sells this to its people and to its supporters in the region. but absolutely if they do not respond and do not respond aggressively, they diminish themselves in the region, and that's something they will not want to do.

iran has set itself as a theocracy over the past 40 years or so since 1979 when they came to power as expanding their influence throughout the region. they will not want this to be the tipping point where their abilities begin to diminish. >> absolutely. and with proxies in many countries who knows how this reaction could come out from iran. no one really knows right now. thank you so much nick robertson there for us in lunlden. >> iran's supreme leader is vowing revenge than the united states again kills the most revered leader of iran's military. our coverage continues after this.

thanks for staying with us. we continue to follow our breaking news. the pentagon says it has carried out a strike at the direction of president trump that killed iran's top military commander qassem soleimani. >> this happened in the early morning hours of friday near baghdad's international airport. the strike also killed a senior leader of the iranian backed popular mobilization forces. >> the strike was defensive intended to prevent future attacks on u.s. targets. >> a cnn presidential historian and also the former director of the nixon presidential library. tim, thanks for coming on. >> my pleasure. >> all right, let's begin with iran because that is top of mind likely involving u.s. foreign

policy right now. hours ago we learned the commander of iran's forces qassem soleimani has been killed. a senior member of the popular mobilization force also among the dead. this actor said iran will pay a big price, what do you make of this development? >> well, what we're seeing is an increase in tensions in iraq. the united states and iran have in a sense been fighting a pruksy war pruk proxy war in iran and now the stakes are much higher. we're now going to have to see how the iranian government responds to tatop military commander of theirs. during -- we're in a moment of real fragility in the united states because of the impeachment crisis. and historically moments like those are times when foreign adversaries of the united states try to test the united states. saddam hussein when he was

leading iraq did it. when clinton was going through his crisis in the nixon era greece and turkey were testing the united states as they fought over cyprus. so we may be seeing a moment where iran is testing the united states and the death today of general soleimani has really i think raised the stakes for iran and will lead to some kind of response by then. so it's a very difficult moment. >> yes, questions have been raised as to whether the united states and iran have gone beyond a proxy war at this point. how has the president stamped him on iran since he took office, gotten us to this point? we had a deal with iran and he backed off from that from the get go. >> well, there was a division in the u.s. national security community over how to deal with an aggressive and ambitious

iran. and the obama administration came to the conclusion that it was in the interest of the united states to take a small risk to try to reach some kind of agreement with iran that would allow us to inspect their nuclear facilities. it wasn't a naive agreement because the united states understood and the world understood that you needed better information on iranian nuclear developments. and the argument was and the risk that was taken was the way to do it was to actually have an agreement with iran that allowed you to put inspectors and instruments in their nuclear facilities. in return you had to ease up sanctions on iran. now, there are parts of the u.s. -- national security and intelligence community that thought this risk was too great, that you shouldn't have done this. the trump administration came forward making some of the arguments of those who had said, no, we shouldn't have trusted

iran to the extent the obama administration did but didn't really provide a new policy. it withdrew the united states from the agreement with iran and then just talked tough. but with no real sense of where they were going, so we replaced one approach to iranian aggression and ambition with no approach. with a rhetorical approach or basically we're trying to bully them into acting in our interests. and of course it hasn't worked. >> we appreciate your insights. thank you so much for joining us. the u.s. air strike in baghdad had an immediate impact on world oil prices. the price shot up 3% as soon as news of the air strike came out. right now crude up 3.25% and wti crude up just over 3%. we'll continue to watch it of course. it is being called a staggering move by the u.s. in

the middle east. we are live in tehran with more of our breaking coverage of the u.s. killing of iran's top military commander right after this. when we started our business we were paying an arm and a leg for postage. i remember setting up shipstation. one or two clicks and everything was up and running. i was printing out labels and saving money. shipstation saves us so much time. it makes it really easy and seamless. pick an order, print everything you need, slap the label onto the box, and it's ready to go. our costs for shipping were cut in half. just like that. shipstation. the #1 choice of online sellers. go to shipstation.com/tv and get 2 months free.

shipstation. the #1 chhey. of online sell ♪hey. you must be steven's phone. now you can take control of your home wifi and get a notification the instant someone new joins your network... only with xfinity xfi. download the xfi app today.

>> announcer: this is cnn breaking news. our breaking news, the pentagon saying it has carried out a strike at it direction of president trump that killed iran's top military commander qassem soleimani and this is big deal, a game changer. >> significant around the world certainly within that region. here's what happened during the early morning hours of friday near the international airport there in baghdad the strike also killed the senior leader of the

iran backed mobilization forces. >> the strike against soleimani was defensive intended to prevent future attacks on u.s. targets. >> and days of tensions led up to the strike. last friday a u.s. contractor was killed in a rocket attack on a u.s. base in iraq. then on sunday u.s. air strikes hit five facilities in syria and iraq linked to iranian backed militia. >> on tuesday pro-iranian protesters attacked the u.s. embassy in baghdad. they breached the compound. leading to early friday in iraq the u.s. striking the baghdad airport killing top commander soleimani and a senior member of the iranian backed popular mobileation forces. we're joined by nick paten walsh from london. he has reported extensively in the region and was the first to report that soleimani was a target of opportunity as far as the strike was concerned. so why was the general so

important here? >> essentially he was the man who carried out iran's operations abroad in short. but also a key hard liner in a country whose government is often torn between the aspects of moderates who were behind a nuclear deal with the west, trying to reduce sanctions and improve the economy and iran should push closer to its military options. it does appear diplomacy is significantly less on the table so far today. qassem soleimani a man who often appeared on the front lines assisting iran backed militia in iraq, so something of a storied individual, often images of him would appear on social media suggesting him popping up when isis was iran's key target here. but also a man in the last decade the u.s. alleges has been at the front of attacks against united states assets and their allies across the region. you just show people a list of

last instance against attacks of u.s. facilities that have been attributed to iran or its proxies in the region and that gives you an idea probably of the u.s. calculus behind this. they probably thought to themselves when this strike was ordered at a presidential level in the past few days, yes a target of opportunity but one seized after a finding this attack was to be carried out, they presumably thought iran's response would be a ratcheting up of the kinds of things you just showed on that list over the past week or so. more attacks and military personnel, they can defend themselves now in a moment like this. iran will choose to make its presence felt, it will probably rely on the unexpected because so much of america's strategy here will be war gaming rayren's response, possibly how its ally israel could have a response to its north.

long threatened to potentially attack, who are facing domestic political issues at the moment as well. so we're dealing with a new ecaid in the middle east here with an unprecedented moment. it may simply be the response of a president who felt maybe his adversaries in the middle east felt he was gun-shy. he didn't respond to the substantial attack on saudi arabia's oil fields and knocked about a 3% of the world's oil supply briefly. he said he simply did not want more. iran's foreign minister said if they were attacked, iran were attacked that moderate diplomat said all out war would be iran's response. possibly this is the white house not wanting their reaction to be misred. it's clear, decisive, exceptionally aggressive and may be interpreted as an act of war, but a conventional miritary

confrontation and i think we'll be seeing that a diplomatic agreement is more unlikely. iran has its own political problems in the months ahead. legislative elections happening in february, and then at some point next year the moderate president hassan rouhani will emd his second term and a successor will go into office. this is possibly also part of the calculus playing out here as well. hard liners versus moderates inside iran will basically try to seek opportunity through this. but i have to tell you i don't think anybody expected this this morning. it's preemptive, the u.s. accepted that certainly and the pressure strategy on iran wasn't altering its behavior, but we are in very new water this morning. >> and i also want to ask you is iraq -- iraq kind of caught in the middle of this, and how will this affect the u.s. relationship with iraq?

>> you have to remember that iran is iraq's neighbor so iran has had a long-term strategy to increase its influence inside iraq that perhaps got excessive. that's behind some of the protests to reduce iranian influence. but that relationship has always been there and what form it takes, it it waxes or wanes, possibly if you're u.s. officials you're looking at the u.s. response, the u.s. invasion, its commitment to the fight against isis and then its dialing down subsequently after that and seeing a less worthy ally. i think you'll be looking in the months ahead for lea complicate relationship. certainly the embassy has reduced its consular funks. to see the u.s. embassy under that kind of onslaught over the past week or so, so iraq certainly caught in the middle here. probably knows where its long-term destiny lies. that is complicated in itself because iran's influence is

popular in parts of iran's population. but i think many here will be seeing how they can look for ways to tamp down and could further harm the position of the iraqi government and iraqi civilians here as well, but quite extraordinary frankly how this has changed the calculus in the region in just a matter of hours. >> and the big question at this point if a conflict does happen, does it draw in other nations, russia, china? we've already seen a response from china given what happened. is there a concern this could spiral out of control, nick? >> it could spiral out of control certainly. i think russia's involvement highly unlikely. china's involvement highly unlikely. the u.s.' allies in the region, saudi arabia, they will be reluctant to get involved too heavily with a power the size of iran. they struggled to win the war in

yemen. iz israel, yes, has strategiesed they had to confront iran particularly if it wanted to become the second military power in the middle east. so many. possible allies that could be targeted by iran who may be drawn into a broader response against iran. iran is a majority in the region, predominantly persian, views itself as a different part to the middle east to some degree. so they have had to have the discipline and calculus of a minority than rather this often sprawling spbs, the sort of semimajority other nations in the middle east tend to have towards broader challenges. but here they face completely unprecedented moment where they have to find some way of proportionately or disproportionately responding to a military super power without actually having the military might to do that. so a complex challenge to seem

strong whilst recognizing they probably are weak to the u.s. >> thank you very much. let's now bring in cnn journalist, he is in iran, the capital city of tehran. what are you hearing from officials? >> officials showing they're outraged and threatening american forces that should wait for the detrimental attack, the revenge for the blood of the martyr soleimani. but at the same time now the supreme national security counsel is having a session behind the curtain to decide what to do and what should come next. we can say that in iran now they're thinking about the

morning ceremony. this is the first day of three day morning service and a lot of talking and prayer is going on, and the sermons are delivered. there is -- i mean nationwide there are condemnations of this assassination and -- george? >> i mean, one question that many people are asking, you know, as far as people talking about this today, hearing word about it as they go to prayer, what is the sentiment of people as they hear this? >> the sentiments of the pro-ruling establishment is revenge, revenge, revenge because they feel humiliated and they think their hero has been killed in the country, nothing

confronting america. just in neighboring country iraq. so it is very, very i mean upsetting for them, and they want revenge. but this revenge may be not translated into official revenge taking. i think as i see the sentiment among the officials is self-restraint. and among the different parts of society prayers and vevenge, george. >> thank you for your time. we'll stay in touch with you again there in tehran as they hear the news of what happened. just ahead here the risks the u.s. now faces after confirming it killed iran's top military commander. that's coming up.

when you never lower your standards, only your fares, it's a better class of sale. emirates. fly better. when you never lower your standards, only your fares, it's a better class of sale. emirates. fly better

this breaking news just into cnn, i want to read this from the state department urging u.s. citizens to depart iraq immediately. it goes onto say 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. that is just crossing from the u.s. state department. >> an anticipated annoyancement after what has happened. we're also getting more reaction to the u.s. military strike that killed the iranian military commander. iraq's prime minister saying moments ago such an operation on iraqi soil is flagrant violation of iraqi sovereignty and a

dangerous escalation that could ignite more. >> president trump ordered a military strike near the airport in baghdad to take out the leader of iran's elite quds forces. the strike also killed a senior member of the iranian backed pawnler mobilization forces. that is the same group who supporters tried to storm the u.s. embassy in baghdad earlier this week. >> iran's spiritual leader says harsh revenge awaits vowing resistance in the region would only grow stronger. >> cnn's ryan brown has details now from the pentagon. >> the pentagon confirming late thursday night that the u.s. military had conducted a strike that killed general qassem soleimani, the leader of iran's islamic revolutionary guard corp, an organization that the u.s. has blamed for multiple deaths in iraq and in an

increasing number of attacks against the u.s. in recent weeks and months. the u.s. military taking this strike in baghdad international airport, two vehicles were destroyed in the strike according to the iraqi military. the u.s. saying soleimani was targeted both as being the head of a u.s. foreign terrorist organization and also he was affectly planning attacks against u.s. personnel in the region and had had been behind a recent rocket attack by an iranian linked proxy group that had killed an iranian contractor and attempted to breach the outer perimeter of the u.s. embassy in baghdad. the u.s. military very much casting this as a defensive action. secretary of defense mark esper spoke to reporters prior to news of the strike telling them the game had changed with regards to iran and its proxies and that the u.s. would exact preemptively to defend american lives and interests in the region. this strike very much an example

of that. and president trump had already ordered additional u.s. military forces to the region in the wake of the events involving the embassy and rocket attacks. hundreds of more paratroopers were deployed to kuwait to respond in the event of a crisis, so those troops could be called in if the situation escalates. many believe that iran will likely retaliatie from this action. but all will be watching what happens next in this region. but the seriousness of the situation and of this development cannot be understated. ryan brown's the pentagon. let's talk more about this now with saw-montmantha vinegra. it's good to have you with us. >> good evening. >> what are the implications moving forward, how do you see

this playing out? >> let's start with the near term implications because this is what should have been thought about before this operation began. there is a near term serious security risk to american citizens in iraq throughout the region and frankly around the world. the irgc and quds force maintains both the will and capability to organize its proxies around the world. and at this juncture the emwaess are under increased risk as well as american citizens more generally. my understanding is the state department is working with american embassies as we speak. there is a heightened security risk that is the first order of business. more broadly iran will consider this an act of war that has implication in iraq. iranian backed proxies to have heavy presence and this could really lead to a real turn in public opinion against the

american presence in iraq. in iran this will be a rallying cry for the regime. soleimani was deeply popular in iraq and very close with khamenei. and we'll of course have to wait and see how russia and china respond. russia and china are iran's patrons and allies and will likely side with iran. so this is really a terrifying moment for anybody with any security background while we wait to see what iran's next move is. even if iran solely retaliates in a tit for tat fashion, we could be looking at an iranian attempt to assassinate a senior u.s. military commander. >> you talk about how the responses could play out, s samantha. and look lebanon, syria, the persian gulf certainly theaters that iran has influence. but here's the situation. this has been a proxy war between the united states and

iran in these various places. but now with iraq seeming to be center stage, what happens now? >> well, i think this just transitioned from a proxy war into a direct conflict. the united states just confirmed that they took -- that we took direct military action against a senior member of the iranian military. we are now past the point of no return with respect to a proxy war versus a more direct confrontation. and that really means that the iranians will continue to consider, frankly, american military service members fair game. and in addition earlier this week iranian backed proxies attacked u.s. diplomats. so again all americans are at increased risk right now. and my real question is, you know, this is president who doesn't really rely on intelligence for much and really shoots from the hip. and so it is unclear that he thoroughly considered or even understands the repercussions and really did a thorough

cost-benefit analysis before making this decision. >> you know, we again have the u.s. confirmation now, but what are you hearing from your sources, and what are you reading between the tea leaves here about whether this, you know, was really thought out or there was preparation made in advance for this ? >> well, again i understand the state department is working as we speak to shore up embassy security. i would imagine that the intelligence community is working in lock step with the state department and the department of dfefense to identify threats throughout the region and americans globally. but we have not seen an indication there was contingency planning ahead of this operation. someone who's very close to the president, media personality sean hannity called into his own show earlier this evening in the united states and said the president acted quickly in the sense of authorizing this attack. acting quickly in these situations absent months of

thorough planning to deal with the after shocks of such a significant operation is not a good thing. speed is not your friend in these situations unless again you've done very thorough planning and have resources ready to deploy to protect americans, to protect our allies. and the intelligence community has been monitoring threats in a consistent fashion both before, during and after this kind of operation. >> samantha, giving us perspective here from washington, d.c. we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> and on the back end of that the state department urging u.s. citizens to depart iraq immediately urging people not to approach the embassy. >>morally of our breaking news coveragerecto coverage right after this.

all right, welcome back. the breaking news this hour iran is vowing evenge for a u.s. rocket attack that has killed its most revered military leader. it happened early friday morning near the baghdad international airport. you see the image thereof where this happened. that strike also killing a senior member of the iranian

backed popular mobilization forces. that's the same group who supporters tried to storm the u.s. embassy in baghdad earlier this week. >> the pentagon said it launched the attack on soleimani on the direct orders of president trum trump. >> we're hearing from iran's spiritual leader ayatollah who says harsh revenge awaits and blasting what he called the stupidity of the u.s. vowing the resistance in the region would only grow stronger. >> we will continue our breaking news coverage here at cnn. we thank you for watching. >> "early start" is next. when you move homes, you move more than just yourself.

that's why xfinity has made taking your internet and tv with you a breeze. really? yup. you can transfer your service online in about a minute. you can do that? yeah. and with two-hour service appointment windows, it's all on your schedule. awesome. so while moving may still come with its share of headaches... no kidding. we're doing all we can to make moving simple, easy, awesome. go to xfinity.com/moving to get started.

♪ this is cnn breaking news. >> iran is vowing harsh revenge after a strike ordered by president trump takes out the leader of iran's special forces. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. this is "early start." i'm laura jarrett. >> it christine romans. it is noon in baghdad. major breaking news overnight. ir iran's supreme leader, said that they kille