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NATO Ambassadors To Meet On Iran Crisis

  NATO ambassadors will hold an extraordinary meeting at their Brussels headquarters on Monday as Middle East tensions mounted after US forces killed a top … Continue reading NATO Ambassadors To Meet On Iran Crisis


FILES) A file handout picture released by the office of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on October 1, 2019, shows Qasem Soleimani, Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Major General and commander of the Quds Force, speaking during an interview with members of the Iranian leader’s bureau in Tehran. A US strike killed top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani and the deputy head of Iraq’s Hashed al-Shaabi military force at Baghdad’s airport early on January 3, 2020, the Hashed announced. Handout / KHAMENEI.IR / AFP
(File photo) The commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force, Gen. Qasem Soleimani, receives condolences following the death of his mother in Tehran.  AFP

 

NATO ambassadors will hold an extraordinary meeting at their Brussels headquarters on Monday as Middle East tensions mounted after US forces killed a top Iranian general. 

“The North Atlantic Council will address the situation in the region,” a NATO official said.

“The secretary general decided to convene the meeting of NATO ambassadors following consultations with allies.”

Last week’s killing of Qasem Soleimani in a US drone strike at Baghdad airport surprised many of Washington’s allies and triggered calls for de-escalation.

But Tehran has vowed to avenge the commander, and US President Donald Trump has threatened “major retaliation” if any American targets are hit.

The situation has also deteriorated in Iraq, where lawmakers have called for the 5,200 US soldiers deployed there to leave.

NATO maintains a training mission in Iraq, preparing local forces to take on Islamic State group extremists, but this would be in doubt if coalition forces pull out.

On Saturday, a NATO spokesman said the mission, which involves several hundred allied personnel, was continuing “but training activities are currently suspended.”

He also confirmed that NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg had spoken by telephone with US Secretary of Defence Mark Esper since Friday’s strike.

AFP