Pentagon confirms Donald Trump ordered killing of Iran Guards commander
Washington, Jan 3: US President Donald Trump ordered the killing of Iran Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani, who died in Baghdad "in a decisive defensive action to protect US personnel abroad," the Pentagon said.
"General Soleimani was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region. General Soleimani and his Quds Force were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American and coalition service members and the wounding of thousands more," the Department of Defence said.
Following Soleimani's death, Trump tweeted an image of the US flag without any further explanation.
The strike, which occurred at Baghdad's international airport on Friday in Iraq, also killed the deputy chief of Iraq's powerful Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary force.
A pro-Iran mob this week laid siege to the US embassy following deadly American air strikes on a hardline Hashed faction.
The US had called the strikes in response to a rocket attack days earlier that had killed an American contractor working in Iraq.
The Baghdad airport was hit in a volley of missiles just after midnight Friday, Iraq's military had announced.
Security sources told AFP the bombardment hit a Hashed convoy and killed eight people, including "important figures." Soleimani heads the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force and also serves as Iran's pointman on Iraq, visiting the country in times of turmoil.
"At the direction of the President, the US military has taken decisive defensive action to protect US personnel abroad by killing Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force, a US-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization," the Pentagon said.
"This strike was aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans," it added.
The Pentagon said that Soleimani had orchestrated attacks on coalition bases in Iraq over the past months, including on December 27, the day the US contractor was killed.
"General Soleimani also approved the attacks on the US Embassy in Baghdad that took place this week," it said.
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Cold grips Delhi, minimum temperature settles around 3 degrees
New Delhi (PTI): Delhi woke up to intense cold conditions on Monday as the minimum temperature dipped to around 3 degrees Celsius at several weather stations across the city, making it the coldest January day since 2023.
On January 16, 2023, the minimum temperature had plunged to 1.4 degrees Celsius, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
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Station-wise data recorded at 8.30 am showed the Safdarjung Observatory, Delhi's principal weather station, registered a minimum temperature of 3.2 degrees Celsius, which was 4.2 notches below normal.
Palam recorded a minimum temperature of 3.3 degrees Celsius, while Lodhi Road logged 3 degrees Celsius.
Ridge recorded a minimum of 4.2 degrees Celsius and Ayanagar reported 3.2 degrees Celsius, the IMD data showed.
The IMD said the maximum temperature in the national capital is expected to touch 19 degrees Celsius.
It said cold wave conditions are likely to persist over the national capital over the next two days.
Delhi's air quality, meanwhile, remained poor.
According to data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the city's overall Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 298 in the 'poor' category.
Around 20 monitoring stations recorded 'very poor' air quality, while the remaining stations were in the 'poor' category. Nehru Nagar recorded the worst air quality with an AQI of 344.
According to the CPCB classification, an AQI between 0 and 50 is considered 'good', 51 to 100 'satisfactory', 101 to 200 'moderate', 201 to 300 'poor', 301 to 400 'very poor', and 401 to 500 'severe'.
