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Iran’s most powerful military leader killed in U.S. airstrike

Iran’s most powerful military leader killed in U.S. airstrike

Posted January. 04, 2020 07:52,   

Updated January. 04, 2020 07:52

한국어

The commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force unit was killed in the U.S. military’s airstrike at Baghdad International Airport in Iraq on Thursday. The unit is the special force in charge of overseas operation of IRGC, Iran’s elite military unit.

“At the direction of the President, the U.S. military has taken decisive defensive action to protect U.S. personnel abroad by killing Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Quds Force, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization,” the U.S. Defense Department said in a statement on the day. “General Soleimani was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region.”

According to IPF News in the region, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that a bitter revenge is awaiting the criminals who killed commander Soleimani.

The Associated Press reported that the airstrike also killed Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a key member of the pro-Iranian Shia militia group in Iraq, and founder of Kataib Hezbollah, which masterminded the recent attack on the U.S. Embassy in Iraq.

As a result, concern is mounting that the latest crisis could escalate to a state of war between the U.S. and Iran.


Se-Hyung Lee turtle@donga.com