>> the u.s. airstrike in b baghd results in the death of a top iranian military commander, qasem soleimani. tehran announces three days of mourning and warns of severe revenge. the pentagon says u.s. president donald trump personally give the orders to target soleimani, saying it was to prevent possible future attacks. and with more than 200 fires cocontinuing to burn in austral,

the navy helps out with one of the largest evacuations the country has ever seen. welcome back to "france 24" from paris i'm tom burges watson. the pentagon says u.s. president donald trump gave the order for the targeting of the top iranian military commander qasem soleimani, was killed in the early hours of friday morning in an aspect close to baghdad airport. a volley of missiles struck a convoy belonging to the iraqi paramilitary force which has close ties to iran. the events are seen as a dramatic escalation in the already bitter tensions between tehran and washihington. there e have been scenes of mourning across iran n including inin a townn thousand mileles sh ofof tehran. it was the hometown of qasem soleimani. the e supreme leader of iriran, ayatollah khamenei, has dececlad three days of mourning and hasas vowed d to take what he calls severe revenge. reporter: with the blue and red

--hts flashing, and it was and arrive at baghdad international airport, the scene of the deadly missile attack. these are the firirst photos of the damage caused by the u.s. airstrikes which have killed seveveral people includiding g l qasesem soleimanani, the leaderf the elite quds force, and the deputy c commander of the tehran-backed militias known as the popular mobilization forces. cells said that the airstrikes struck near the cargo terminal with one senior politician adding that the airstrike occurred as soon as soleimani stepped off the plane which had brought him from either lebanon or syria. his body was apparently identified by the ring he was wearing. in response, the u.s. president has simply tweeted an image of ,he stars & stripes flag

while the pentagon says donald trump personally ordered the killing of soleimani in a strike it says was and to deter future iranian attack plans. the incident comes as relations continue to nosedive between washington and tehran. tweet, president trump warned of the islamic republic that it would pay a big price after supporters of program militia -- pro-iran militias reached the outer reaches of the was embassy in baghdad. those were sparked by u.s. airstrikes in iraq and syria on sunday which k killed two dozen fighters from the kataib hezbollah group which washington blames for a rocket attack on friday which killed a u.s. contractor and wounded four u.s. service personnel. suprememehile, iran's leader announced i in the last hour or r so that he is appointd soleimani's depuputy as replacemenent as the head of the countrtry's quds forces.

the brigadier general takes up that position. in acoma the iranian foreign ministerer mohohammed javed zarif has called the fx "any truly dangerous and foolilh escacalation."." >> america's action withoutut ay doubt is an act of state terrorism and viololation of iraq's sovereignty. it is murdering persons who dedicated their entire life to fighting t tyranny, oppressioio, terror, and extremism. te the pure and holy blood of qasem soleimani will make the tree off resistance robust anand the iranian p people morere united. it will makeke u.s. policies moe scananlous and l less effective than ever before.. tom: the iranian foreign minister speaking there. threree days of public mourninis underway in iran for the general's death. let's listen to how people in iran are reacting to thehe news. >> how stupid can they be to do such a thing?

because in the middle east region, i think iran is a factor of stability. qasem soleimani played a major role in this. iran, whole country of for islamic countries, all of us, for general soleimani. >> this action, the responsibility of which has been a fairly accepted by the u.s., it is an amateur act. our nation will become more aware and more soleimanis will be produced in the country, i can assure you. tom: reaction to the news of the deatath of soleimani. for more analysis can we can speak to a senior policy fellow for the middle east north africa program at the european council on foreign relations. thank you so much for speaking to us. for people who don't know much was,t who qasem soleimani

what is relevance into perspective for -- put his relevance into perspective. how significant a figure was he? iran's, he wasas no doubt top commander in charge of security policy, particularly in the middle east, but also in afghanistan. he had been a veteran of the iran-iraq war of the 1980's and raised u up the ranks to become the main decisive figurure in hw iran executed its policies particularly in places where the united states had a military presence such as iraq. for ththe united states, qasem soleimani was viewed as being an iranian leader with much blood on his hands. they have blamed him for leaving attacks against amerirican forcs attack inanian support of the syrian president inside syria for the last seven or eighght years.

there are two different opinions on the man. anhout a doubt he was important, significant figure within the iranian leadership structure. tom: yeah, some people are saying that therefore, given his importance, that airstrike which killed him was what a lot of ananalysts are calling a game changer. do you agree with that? how do you see things unfolding from here? the trumphat administration has done is rewrite the rules of engagement bebetween the u.u.s. and iran. up until now, the military action o on both sides has mosty been covert, witithout taking responsibilityty. now the united states has gone ahead and publicly announced it has assassinated one of the top figures within the iranian political and military establishment. and therefore, this opens up a

whole new space for iran to take retaliatory responses against senior american personnel in the middle east or elsewhere. iran does you this as an act- -v-view-- view this as an act of war, and those redlines that were implicitly registered for a decade at least wherere the u.s. and d iran did not opepenly caue fatalities on each other on the ground in the middle east have been ripped up. tom: just in terms of what form any kind of retaliation might take from iran, what are your thoughts? we can't really know for certain, but for sure i been has-- iran has a large toolkit at its disposal. it can choose a kinetic response. there are many u.s. boots on the ground acrososs the region,n, u.

embassies, u.s. . military personnel, diplomatic personnel. this is the number one concern official.s. security to p protect and guanteeee security for the personnel on the ground. bubut iran may also choose a moe longng-term response e through changing means such as the against the united states in places like afghanisistan and iraq w where e locals will forcefully demand u.s. military personnel to withdraw frorom these coununtri. this has been a a hot topipic of dedebate in iraq.. we may see that speed up. iran also has the nuclear program. we expected to make another announcement about extending its nuclear activities.

this could not have triggered a much more provocative response from iran, which will put capitals in a big dilemma. tom: lastly, there has been mixed reaction across the globe to the news of soleimani's death from the outpouring of emotion and the mourning we have seen in iran, but we have also heard world leaders congratulating president donald trump. this morning when the news broke, we saw celebrations, spontaneous celebrations, in iraq taking place, in tahrir square in the center of baghdad. what do you read into that? why would people in iraq be salivating the death of the news of this military commander-- celebrating the death of the news of his military commander? >> look iraq is right now going through a very complicated political struggle, both on the streets and behind closed doors in the political establishmeme. doubt was soleimani seen

as a hero by people on the streets of iraq, even though some parts of the political establishment were close to him, particularly given the role he played in fighting against isis fromom 2014. and there are those whjo see soleimani as having orchestrated a crackdown n of protesterers ie iraq in recent months. again, the emotional reaction will be from different perspectives. the policy and security implications to the united states should not be underestimated. tom: thank you so much for your analysis. senior policy fellow for the middle east north africa program at the european council on foreign relations. thank you so much. let's take a closer look at the powerful organization headed up by qasem soleimani, an

organization which has trained up pro-iran militias across the middle east. reporter: established in the wake of the 1979 islamic revolution, the revolutionary guards are often described as a parallel government within iran. tasked with protecting iranian interests at home and abroad, it is also heavily involved in regional politics and conflicts. its foreign arm, the paramilitary al-quds brigade,, has been instrumental in supporting pro-iran militias across the middle east. al quds played a key role in fighting the islamic state organization and is known to have trained and armed groups such as hezbollah in lebanon and hamas in gaza. both are considered terrorist organizations by the u.s. the al-quds forces have been accused by washington of orchestrating attacks against u.s. troops in iraq.

surveys have shown that there now late leader qasem soleimani has become s significantly more popular at home then president hassssan rouhani. closer to the conservative clergy that to the government, al-quds and the revolutionary guards have repeatedly criticized rouhani's efforts to reach a nuclear agreement. >> america is still the great satan, it wants to infiltrate iran with instruments and methods. reporter: the revolutionary guards also control much of iran's economy and wield significant political power domestically. many of their formerer members workrk in parliament. tom: as we have been saying, the pentagon says u.s. president donald trump personally gave the order to target the top iranian military commander, qasem soleimani. this update from washington. position iscans'

that this strike was a preemptive strike in one way and also a retaliatory strike in another way, because in that statement, it really specify to that soleimani was the person they saw as having orchestrated that attack that we just heard about in that report that killed the u.s. contractor, which triggered other attacks by iranian-backcked militias, and that soleimani was behind the protest and the attack on the u.s. embassy over new year's. it was a retaliation to that, but also a preemptive strike, because as the pentagon says, soleimani and the iranians were gearing up for more attacks planned on u.s. interest and u.u.s. personnel, and that the u.s. would do anything it had to do to defend its citizens

wherever they were across the world. it really was a sign that the americans were showing their strength, proving that they are willing to strike and to strike hard in order to defend their personnel and interests, and really giving, as you said, a message to the iranians that donald trump is ready to attack iran or iranian-backedd forces, whether it is in iraq or syria. tom: tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets of tehran these last few hours to protest against the u.s. airstrikeses which killed qasemm soleimani. there has also been reaction to this from much further afield, including here in e europe, whee the president of the european council cautioned against further escalations. the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has praised president trump's position and said that the u.s. has the right to defend itself.

reporter: the international reactions to the u.s. killing of top iranian commander qasem soleimani are almost unanimous. fear that it will sigignicantly destabilize an already volatile region. beijing expressing serious concerns encouraged the countries involved to respect thee principle of f sovereignty. >> china always opposes the use of force in ininrnationall relations. we u urge the relevant sides especially the united states, to remain calm and exercise restraint to avoid further escalating tensions. reporter: a plea echoed across europe. london and berlin encouraged de-escalation, u urging all parties to show prudence. france similarly said its immediatate priority is devising the region. >> what is h happening is what e fear. tensions between the united stateses and iran are increasin. we need to create the e right conditions to ststabilize the region at the highest levels of governrnment with the foreign

ministster and the preresident. we are goioing to mamake contact with all partners in the region. this can have a lot of consequences fo. reporter: russia condemned the u.s. move, the kremlin warning it will only increase tension throughout the middle east. taking thahat concern eveven further,r, iraqi caretaker prime dinister adel abdul mahdi warne it will spark a devastatingg wa. tom: iraq's oil ministry said today that some u.s. citizens working for foreign oil commmmittees in the oioil-rich y of basra are leaving the country in response to this morning's killining of iranian military commander qasem soleimani, which could destabilize iraq. the attack happened on iraqis oil. the fears have resulted in a spike on oil prices.s. what is happening? reporter: well, obviously oil prices jumped on the news both rent and the bti - -brent and

wti jumped over 4% at one point. things calmed down a bit, but still around 1%. uncertainty grows over the potential repercussions after the killing. the global oil market just capped roller coaster year, and one analyst thinks that the current is unlikely to last. >> a major supply of the oil globally. that is why oil will r rebound. but for u.s., there is strong supplies of shell gas-- shale gas and the oil in recent years. that is why i think the oil price cannot be back with a lot. reporter: that is one's analyst

-- that is one analysts take. where prices are sensitive to jim -- where prices are sensitive to geopolitical tensions. let's look at key events in the last couple years. tensions started to risese after donald trump pulled the u.s. out of the 2015 nunuclear deal. started imposing sanctions. then last summer,r, tensions roe in the gulf, starting with attacks on oil tankers and the downing of a u.s. drought.-- d rone. and the tanker in the strait of hormuz. ththe attack on saudi araramco's will facilities was a majojor shock back in september of last year. those major events have had significant impact on the oil market each time. as you can see, how brent and crude prices move in the past three years. the u.s. pullout of the nuclear

deal set off of roller coaster ride. about 1/5 of oil traraded around the world goes to the strait of hormuz, or tankers came under attack last summer. in previous flareups in tension with the u.s., iran second the supply of oil from the gulf, and that is because sanctions on iran's vital energy sector are hurting its economy. iran'n's gdpthehe imf, fofor 2019 is estimated to have contracted 10%. a spectacular to come to given that economy group 12.5%-- spectacular decline given that the economy grew 12.5% the year after the nuclear dedeal was signed. tom: for investors to be thinking about on the final day of the first week of a brand-new year. reporter: that is right. the global stock markets started the year on a positive note, but that is no longer r the case. today all major european indices are in the red, this after

starting the year on a positive note following the wall street record. ftse down half a percent. .acac down .6% dax down 1.8%. tom: a rather subdued note to end the week in europe. thank you very much indeed. let's get a check ofofther news where following. last month, a new president of algeria was elected. he appointed a new prime minister last weekend and now a new government line of has been unveiled. ofept the ministers heading a number of the portfolios have not changed at all. the foreign minister, energy minister, interior minister will all remain in their posts. mass protests erupted across algeria back in february can resulting in the departure of the veteran president in april.

but those taking to the streets the last eight or nine mononths have been calling for wholesale change in the political class. are than 200 fires continuing to burn in australia. authorities say the worst could be a to come bebecause aird conditions-- arid conditions and scorching temperatures s e making the blazes harderr to contain. in more remote areas along the new south wales coast, the navy has been helping, taking people to s safety. about five bn hectares of land has been burned since the fires began. at least 19 people have lost their lives. mass evacuations arare taking place onn the new south wales south coast but also in easternn victoriria, where a a e of disasteter has been declaredn the tourist town, evacuatitions

are underway.. the navy ships are taking around 1000 people to western port, which is 500 kilometers west. dozens of vulnerable people such as the sick and the elderly have been airlifted out. meanwhile, in a new south wales, authorities have told people on the south coast that this is their last chance to evacuate before extreme weather conditions arere set to kick in tomorrow. their message to people is to get out now while you can. the next few hours are going to prove very crucial in the. we have h heard a chilling warng from the new south waleses rural fire service. these fires cannot be stopped and so thertheir sole focus tomorrow will be on saving lives. it is a race against the clock for people to get out of high- risk areas but also for firefighters to get as much

preparation done as possible before what is set to be actually dangerous day tomorrow. -- an extremely dangerous day tomorrow. tom: rescuers in indonesia are continuing with the search for survivors following from flash floods and landslides triggered by torrential rainfall. the deluges began on new year's eve. at leased 43 people are known to of lost their lives in the greater jakarta area alone. de,ers have begun to rece but there is a growing concern that the conditions could lead to an outbreak of diseases. the indonesian president has announced plans to move the country's capital to take pressure off jakarta, which is sinking fast due to excessive groundwater extraction. reminder, you can check out our news on our website, france24.com. you will find the news in english, french, and spanish, including this top story-- english, french, arabic, and

spanish, including the top story, the killing of iranian military commander qasem soleimani, killed of this morning in a u.s. airstrike on the edge of baghdad. iran vowing revenge. --s is the scene in tehran no, that is the scene in iran a little earlier on, as people voiced anger and shock at the news of the passing of general qasem soleimani. that brings us up to date with the world news. thank you for watching. stay tuned to "france 24."

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