A Swiss diplomat delivered a message from the US to Iran on Friday over the US killing of senior Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani, the Swiss foreign ministry said.
"The chargé d'affaires was informed of Iran's position and in turn delivered the message of the United States," the ministry said in an emailed response to a Reuters query, without elaborating.
Switzerland represents the interests of Washington in Iran, allowing the two countries to maintain a diplomatic channel of communication.
Meanwhile, in his first comments since the early Friday strike against the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, US President Donald Trump said Soleimani was responsible for killing and wounding “thousands” of Americans.
"General Qassem Soleimani has killed or badly wounded thousands of Americans over an extended period of time, and was plotting to kill many more," Trump wrote in a tweet.
“He should have been taken out many years ago,” he added.
He also noted that Soleimani was responsible for the deaths of a large number of protesters in Iran, Reuters reported.
For his part, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in television interviews on Friday that the airstrike which killed Soleimani aimed to disrupt an “imminent attack” that would have endangered Americans in the Middle East.
According to Reuters, during interviews on Fox News and CNN, Pompeo declined to discuss many details of the alleged threat but said it was “an intelligence based assessment” that drove the US decision to target Qassem Soleimani.
“He was actively plotting in the region to take actions — a big action as he described it — that would have put dozens if not hundreds of American lives at risk. We know it was imminent,” Pompeo told CNN.
“These were threats that were located in the region,” Pompeo added.
“Last night was the time that we needed to strike to make sure that this imminent attack ... was disrupted.”
However, Pompeo stressed that the US remains committed to de-escalation with Iran but will defend itself, Reuters reported.
He added that Washington has fortified its assets in the region and is prepared for any possible retaliation, including a cyberattack.
