On Sunday, Iran announced its fifth step back from the 2015 landmark nuclear deal, saying it would not observe the deal's restrictions on fuel enrichment, on the size of its enriched uranium stockpile and on its research and development activities. Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Khamenei vowed revenge against Soleimani's killing and said "severe revenge awaits the criminals" behind the attack.
As tensions between the two countries escalated, India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar Sunday spoke to his counterpart in Tehran, Javad Zarif and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. While he expressed deep concern over the situation with Iran, in his talk with the US, he mentioned India's interests.
Mourners filled the streets of Tehran on Monday for ceremonies to pay homage to the Iranian military commander.
The killing of Qassem Soleimani has escalated the crisis between Tehran and Washington after months of back-and-forth attacks and threats which have put the Middle East on edge.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also said that the United States could attack the country within its borders and its leaders if they take hostile actions against US interests. He underscored President Donald Trump's message that the United States had chosen sites to attack within Iran if the country ordered assaults on US assets or citizens in retaliation for the drone strike in Baghdad.
NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg Monday said that all the allies in the group have called for restrain and de-escalation of tensions between the US and Iran. Stoltenberg also said that all allies have shown concern over Iran's support for terrorist groups in the region and that it must never acquire a nuclear weapon.
US President Donald Trump tweets: 'Iran will never have a nuclear weapon!'
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Earlier, Tehran abandoned the remaining limits of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers in response to the killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.
Pakistan will not take sides in the escalating confrontation between neighbouring Iran and the United States, its foreign minister said on Monday, following the killing of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in a US drone strike.
Pakistan, which is majority Sunni Muslim but has a large Shi'ite minority and is anxious to avoid any regional upheaval, is in a sensitive position on the matter. An ally of Saudi Arabia, Tehran's arch regional foe, Pakistan has a complex relationship with Iran, with which it shares a long border.
"We're clear that Pakistan's soil will not be used against any other state, and nor will Pakistan become a part of this regional conflict," Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi told the upper house of parliament in a policy statement.
"Pakistan has taken a clear stance that Pakistan doesn't endorse any unilateral action," he said, in the government's first official response to the killing of Soleimani, architect of efforts to extend Iran's influence across the region.
Thousands of Shi'ite protesters marched in several Pakistani cities on Sunday to show solidarity with Iran. Some clashed with police in the southern city of Karachi when they attempted to march on the US consulate. (Reuters)
On Sunday, Iran said it would abandon limitations on enriching uranium, refusing to adhere to the 2015 nuclear deal it signed with six major powers, but would continue to cooperate with the UN nuclear watchdog. The E3 group of countries — Britain, France, and Germany — have subsequently called on Tehran to resume its commitments under the deal. Read more
Sharing a photo of the funeral of slain Gen. Iran Foreign Minister Qassem Soleimani, Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Sarif tweeted, "Have you EVER seen such a sea of humanity in your life, @realdonaldtrump? Do you still want to listen to the clowns advising you on our region? And do you still imagine you can break the will of this great nation & its people? End of malign US presence in West Asia has begun."
Turkey will work to de-escalate tensions between Iran and the United States and has been in contact with both parties after US forces killed a top Iranian military commander last week, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Monday.
Cavusoglu said Turkey would support any steps to ease tensions in the region. "We will continue to work with other countries to solve this problem or de-escalate tensions in the coming days," he said.
"Our common concern is Iraq turning into a conflict zone for other, third-party countries. This is a very serious risk for Iraq and our region," Cavusoglu said. "Therefore, we will continue to do whatever we can to reduce the cycle of violence."
(Reuters)
Britain has expressed concerns over Iran's announcement that it will abandon limitations on enriching uranium, saying that it is "urgently speaking to parties about possible next steps", a spokesman for Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday. "Iran's announcement is clearly extremely concerning. It is in everyone's interests that the deal remains in place. It makes the world safer by taking the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran firmly off the table," Reuters quoted the spokesperson as saying. (Reuters)
The benchmark equity indices on the BSE and National Stock Exchange (NSE) crashed nearly 2 per cent on Monday amid geopolitical tensions in the oil-producing region of West Asia involving Iran and the US.
The S&P BSE Sensex cracked 787.98 points or 1.90 per cent to settle at 40,676.63. During the day the 30-share benchmark index fell as much as 850.65 points to touch an intraday low of 40,613.96.
Soleimani's daughter, Zeinab, directly threatened an attack on the US military in the Mideast while speaking to a crowd that stretched as far as the eye could see down major thoroughfares in Iran's capital.
"The families of the American soldiers in western Asia ... will spend their days waiting for the death of their children," she said to cheers.
Iranian state television and others online shared a video that showed Trump's American flag tweet following Soleimani's killing turn into a coffin, the "likes" of the tweet replaced by over 143,000 "killed" with the #severerevenge. (AP)
European shares extended losses on Monday as tensions following the killing of a top Iranian general by the United States kept buying restricted to safe havens, while energy stocks benefited from higher oil prices.
The pan-European STOXX 600 equity index was down 1.2% by 0914 GMT and was set for its worst day in a month. German stocks were the worst performers in the region, dropping about 1.9%.
"Markets had started January on a positive note... No one really expected so soon in the year to have an escalation in tensions," said Simona Gambarini, economist at Capital Economics in London.
(Reuters)
Weeping amid wails from a crowd of hundreds of thousands of mourners, Iran’s supreme leader on Monday prayed over the remains of a top Iranian general killed in a US airstrike in Baghdad, an attack that’s drastically raised tensions between Tehran and Washington.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei himself prayed over the caskets of Soleimani and others slain in the attack. Khamenei, who had a close relationship with Soleimani, Khamenei wept at one point during the traditional Muslim prayers for the dead. The crowd and others wailed. Read more
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) ambassadors will hold an extraordinary meeting at their Brussels headquarters on Monday as tensions in the Middle East mounted after the killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.
United States President Donald Trump has threatened to hit “very hard” 52 targets in Iran as revenge for the same number of Americans taken hostage by Iran “many years ago”. He posted on Twitter: “Let this serve as a WARNING that if Iran strikes any Americans, or American assets, we have targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago)…” Read more here
On Monday, thousands of people took to the streets of Baghdad for the funeral procession of Iran's top general Qassem Soleimani after he was killed in a US airstrike, as the region braced for the Islamic Republic to fulfil its vows of revenge.
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The US and Iran have already been in confrontation for over a week, with each attack leading to a counterattack. On December 27, more than 30 rockets were launched at an Iraqi military base, killing an American contractor. The US responded on December 29 with airstrikes on sites in Iraq and Syria, killing 24 members of an Iranian-backed militia. On December 31, pro-Iranian militia members laid siege to the US Embassy in Baghdad, trapping American diplomats for more than 24 hours. Then came the US drone strike that killed Soleimani and others. Read more here
Tehran abandoned the remaining limits of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers in response to the killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.
Iran's supreme leader on Monday prayed over the remains of general Qassem Soleimani, weeping amid wails from a crowd of hundreds of thousands of mourners. Soleimani's daughter, Zeinab, threatened an attack on the US military in the Mideast while speaking to a crowd of hundreds of thousands in Tehran that stretched as far as the eye could see. Read here
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