IRGC: Iran will definitely retaliate over Soleimani

Iranian Revolutionary Guard spokesman Gen. Ramezan Sharif vowed on Friday that Iran would definitely retaliate to the US airstrike that killed the country's top general, Qassem Soleimani.

Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force, was killed along with senior Iraqi militants in a US airstrike near Baghdad's international airport overnight.

"The temporary happiness of Americans and Zionists will not last long and will soon turn into mourning," Sharif said during a live interview on state TV.

"Our determination to retaliate against the criminal America and occupying Zionists is boosted and it will definitely happen," he said.

At the end of the interview Sharif could be seen weeping over Soleimani's death on air.

The targeted killing of Soleimani could draw forceful Iranian retaliation against American interests in the region and spiral into a far larger conflict between the US and Iran, endangering US troops in Iraq, Syria and beyond.

Soleimani was considered the architect of Iran's policy in Syria.

The Defence Department said it killed Soleimani because he "was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region."

It also accused Soleimani of approving the attacks on the US Embassy in Baghdad earlier this week.

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