India calls for 'peace, stability and security' after US airstrike killed Iran's top Commander
Hours after a US airstrike killed Iran's elite Quds Force chief General Qasem Soleimani, India on Friday called for restraint, saying that it is vital that the situation does not escalate further. "We have noted that a senior Iranian leader has been killed by the US. The increase in tension has alarmed the world. Peace, stability and security in this region is of utmost importance to India," The Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
“It is vital that the situation does not escalate further. India has consistently advocated restraint and continues to do so,” News agency ANI quoted MEA as saying.
Earlier in the day, Iran's supreme leader appointed Esmail Qaani as the new head of the Revolutionary Guards' foreign operations arm after its commander, Qasem Soleimani, was killed on Friday in a US strike on Baghdad airport. “Following the martyrdom of the glorious general haj Qasem Soleimani, I name Brigadier General Esmail Qaani as the commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a statement posted on his official website.
Soleimani, a US-designated terrorist, along with six other, were killed in the airstrike carried out by the United States near Baghdad's international airport. The strike has escalated tensions between the US and Iran, with Tehran vowing to take a "vigorous revenge" for the killing.
Following Soleimani's death, President Trump, now on vacation in Florida, did not comment immediately, except for tweeting an image of the US flag.
However, the US has issued a travel advisory to its citizens in Iraq asking them to depart immediately due to the heightened tensions following the killing of Iran's elite Quds Force chief. "US citizens should depart via airline while possible, and failing that, to other countries via land," read a statement issued by the US Embassy in Iraq.
In the meantme, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke with the foreign ministers of Britain and Germany as well as China’s state councilor after Soleimani was killed near the airport in Baghdad. Pompeo called world leaders to explain and defend President Donald Trump’s decision to order an airstrike that killed Iran’s top military commander.
In each call, Pompeo said the U.S. is committed to de-escalating tensions in the Middle East that have soared since an Iranian-backed militia killed an American contractor and the U.S. responded with strikes against it. That set off violent pro-Iran protests outside the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.
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