Trump says that Soleimani should have been "eliminated many years ago"

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani "should have been taken out many years ago," as he was directly and indirectly responsible for the deaths of millions of people.

The President of the United States turned to Twitter a few hours after Soleimani was killed in an American attack on an international airport in Baghdad, to say that the Iranian general should have been killed several years ago. The murder caused tensions in Iran and Iraq with thousands of slogans shouting against the United States on the streets of Tehran and Ayatollah Khomeini promising revenge against Washington.

The Pentagon had claimed that the President of the United States, Donald Trump, had ordered the "murder" of Soleimani as a "retaliation" to a mafia earlier this week besieging the American embassy in Baghdad.

In a series of tweets, Trump said that Soleimani "was both hated and feared in the country [Iran]" and was conspiring to kill more people.

"General Qassem Soleimani killed or seriously injured thousands of Americans for a long period of time, and was conspiring to kill many more ... but they captured him! He was directly and indirectly responsible for the death of millions of people, including the recent high numbers of PROTESTORS killed in Iran itself. While Iran can never admit it correctly, Soleimani has been hated and feared in the country. They are not as sad as leaders will let the outside world believe. many years! ", read the tweets by Trump.

The general's death, confirmed by Iran and the United States, represents the most dramatic escalation between the two countries in recent history.

Leave Iraq "immediately": the United States tells citizens that tensions are escalating

The State Department told US citizens to leave Iraq "immediately" after an American attack killed Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad.

"Due to growing tensions in Iraq and the region, we urge American citizens to leave Iraq immediately," tweeted the State Department. "Due to the attacks by Iranian-backed militias in the United States Embassy complex, all consular operations are suspended. US citizens should not approach the Embassy."