Live updates: US-Iran tensions after Qassem Soleimani's killing
Live Updates
US troops will "eventually" leave Iraq, but now is not the right time, Donald Trump says amid confusion and uncertainty about Washington's plans after a leaked letter addressed to the Iraqi government that implied a US withdrawal began circulating on Monday.
"If we leave that would mean that Iran would have a much bigger foothold. And the people of Iraq do not want to see Iran running their country - that I can tell you," Trump said, speaking to reporters from the White House on Tuesday.
"If we do get out, we've spent a tremendous amount of money on building airports. It's one of the largest embassies we have in the world," Trump said. "And we want to be reimbursed for the various costs that we have had, and they're very significant, but we'll work something out."
Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said he was denied a visa to attend a United Nations Security Council meeting at its headquarters in New York.
Zarif said he had been informed of the visa rejection by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, according to Iran's semi-official news agency ISNA.
"What we know is that the US secretary of state, in a call to the secretary-general of the United Nations, said: 'We did not have time to issue a visa for Mohammad Javad Zarif and we will not issue a visa'," Zarif said.
Under the 1947 UN's "headquarters agreement", the US is generally required to issue visas forforeign diplomats visiting the United Nations. But Washington says it can deny visas for "security, terrorism and foreign policy" reasons.
While the US has not officially confirmed the visa denial, a US official speaking on condition of anonymity told Reuters the US had denied Zarif's visa.
NATO troops have begun to move out of Baghdad's fortified Green Zone to other locations in Iraq and the broader region.
An official with the treaty organisation told the Washington Post that the troops were being moved out due to safety concerns.
"We have temporarily suspended our training on the ground, and we are taking all precautions necessary to protect our people. This includes the temporary repositioning of some personnel to different locations both inside and outside of Iraq," the official told the Post.
The drawdown of troops has already started, officials have said, with helicopters evacuating a first wave of personnel overnight.
35 German soldiers have already left Iraq to the neighbouring countries of Jordan and Kuwait, a German news agency reported citing a statement from Germany's defence and foreign ministers.
Joe Biden, a frontrunner for the Democratic nomination for president, called Donald Trump "incompetent" for ordering the killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.
Soleimani "was the mastermind, but he was not the hold of the regime, or of its capacity to strike back." Biden said in a televised speech on Tuesday.
"The question is, was the reward of removing a bad actor worth the risk of what comes next," he added.
To read what other presidential candidates have said about Soleimani's death, check out the full story here.
Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said he is seeking clarification from Washington over two versions of a letter from the US army concerning a possible withdrawal of its troops from Iraq.
During a televised cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the prime minister said the letter's English and Arabic language versions were not identical, and Iraq has accordingly requested clarifications from Washington.
Secretary of Defense Mark Esper responded to Mahdi's statements during an interview on CNN, saying the letter in question was the same "draft letter" leaked on Monday that had already been recanted as a "mistake".
The "draft letter" was not intended to be released or sent, Esper said, adding that the correspondence "has no value whatsoever".
Abdul Mahdi said that if the letter in question were indeed a mistake, the US should send another clarifying the mix-up.
A stampede at the funeral procession of Qassem Soleimani in his hometown of Kerman on Tuesday has killed at least 50 people, the semi-official ISNA news agency said, quoting a local official.
Earlier, Iran's Fars news said at least 40 people had died and around 213 others had been injured, citing an emergency services official.
Explaining how the sheer size of the crowd coalesced into a deadly scene, Arash Rezai, a witness in Kerman, told Middle East Eye: "The population of Kerman is one million and you can't find anyone today staying at home."
CIA Director Gina Haspel, National Security Agency Director Paul M. Nakasone and Joseph Maguire, acting director of national intelligence, will brief leading lawmakers on the killing of Qassem Soleimani, in DC at 4 pm local time on Tuesday, the Washington Post reported.
The group of legislators, historically known as the "gang of eight", include the House speaker and minority leader, the Senate majority and minority leaders, and the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate intelligence committees.
An "all-senators briefing" will take place on Wednesday, according to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
US President Donald Trump on Sunday threatened sanctions against Baghdad, after Iraq's parliament called on US troops to leave the country, and said that if troops were forced to leave, Baghdad would have to pay Washington for the cost of the air base there.
“We have a very extraordinarily expensive air base that’s there. It cost billions of dollars to build, long before my time. We’re not leaving unless they pay us back for it," Trump told reporters on Air Force One, according to Reuters.
Trump said that if Iraq asked US forces to leave and it was not done on a friendly basis, "we will charge them sanctions like they’ve never seen before ever. It’ll make Iranian sanctions look somewhat tame.”
Trump also vowed "major retaliation" if Tehran launches attacks to avenge Soleimani.
The United States detained 60 Iranian Americans at the US-Canadian border in the state of Washington.
A source at the Customs and Border Control agency reported that the Department of Homeland Security had issued a national order to "report" and detain anyone with Iranian heritage entering the country who is deemed potentially suspicious, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
"These reports are extremely troubling and potentially constitute illegal detentions of United States citizens," Masih Fouladi, executive director of CAIR-Washington, said in a statement.
Washington Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal said in a tweet that she was "deeply disturbed" by the reports of these detentions.
Kuwaiti and Saudi shares led Gulf stocks sharply lower in late afternoon trade on Sunday in the wake of a US drone strike in Baghdad that killed Iran's top military commander Qassem Soleimani.
"A US-Iran war could shave 0.5 percentage points or more off global GDP, mainly due to a collapse in Iran’s economy, but also due to the impact from a surge in oil prices," Jason Tuvey, senior emerging markets economist at Capital Economics, said in a note last week, according to Reuters.
Iraqi protesters flooded the streets to denounce both the US and Iran as "occupiers".
Demonstrators are angry fears of war between the rivals are hindering their anti-government movement.
"No to Iran, no to America!" chanted hundreds of Iraqis in the southern city of Diwaniyah, AFP reported.
Clashes also took place between protesters and mourners of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani. In the southern city of Nasiriyah, the offices of the Iran-backed Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMU) were set on fire.
A former chief of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards said on Sunday the Israeli city of Haifa and Israeli military centres would be included in Tehran's retaliation over the killing of Iran's pre-eminent military commander Qassem Soleimani.
"Iran's revenge against America for the assassination of Soleimani will be severe... Haifa and Israeli military centres will be included in the retaliation," Mohsen Rezaei said in a televised speech to a gathering of mourners in Tehran.
Good evening,
Here's a quick round-up of the day's events as the region continues to grapple with the fall out of Qassem Soleimani's assassination.
1) Iraq's parliament passed a non-binding resolution calling on US troops to leave the country. The parliament's calls were backed by the Iraqi Prime Minister. No timetable was given for when US troops to leave or whether that included all US army personnel.
2) The Iranian Supreme Leader's military adviser, Hossein Dehghan, told CNN that Iran's response to Soleimani's killing will be against US military sites.
3) Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr both called on US army sites to be targeted in response to Soleimani's assassination.
4) Thousands have gathered in the city of Ahvaz as part of a funeral procession to mark Soleimani's death before his burial on Tuesday.
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Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi endorsed his parliament's call for American troops to leave Iraq following the assassination of Iran's top general Qassem Soleimani.
"It is in the interest of both Baghdad and Washington to end the foreign presence in Iraq," Mahdi told the Iraqi parliament.
""Despite the internal and external difficulties that we might face, it remains best for Iraq on principle and practically."
Leader of the Hezbollah movement, Hassan Nasrallah, said the US army will "pay the price" for the assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.
"The American army killed him, and it will pay the price," Hassan Nasrallah warned in a televised speech.
