The American Embassy in Baghdad is calling for all US citizens in Iraq to leave the country as soon as possible.
In the early hours of 3 January, Iran’s most powerful general Qassem Suleimani was killed outside Baghdad airport in an airstrike sanctioned by the US President, Donald Trump. Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, de-facto leader of the Iranian-backed Iraqi militia, the Popular Mobilisation Units (PMU), and close associate of Suleimani, also died in the attack.
The killing represents a significant acceleration in the escalation of tensions between the US and Iran. It followed just hours after the conclusion of a two-day siege against the US embassy in Baghdad by PMU militants, which was prompted by a US airstrike camps belonging to a PMU-affiliated militia, itself a response to that group’s killing of a US contractor at an Iraqi army base.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has sworn revenge for Suleimani’s death.
The embassy said in a statement that it “urges American Citizens to heed the January 2020 Travel Advisory and depart Iraq immediately. US citizens should depart via airline while possible, and failing that, to other countries by land.”
“Due to Iranian-backed militia attacks at the US Embassy compound, all public consular operations are suspended until further notice”, the statement added.
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