Iran's supreme leader appointed assassinated commander Qassem Soleimani's deputy, Brigadier General Esmail Ghaani, to replace him as head of the country's Quds Forces, Iranian media reported.

The force's programme "will be unchanged from the time of his predecessor," Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a statement published by state media.

The Pentagon said Thursday that the US military has killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, at the direction of President Donald Trump. An airstrike killed Soleimani, architect of Iran's regional security apparatus, at Baghdad’s international airport Friday, Iranian state television and three Iraqi officials said, an attack that's expected to draw severe Iranian retaliation against Israel and American interests.

The Defense Department said Soleimani “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.

Iraq's prime minister condemned on Friday the U.S. killing of Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and said it would "light the fuse" of war.

"The assassination of an Iraqi military commander who holds an official position is considered aggression on Iraq ... and the liquidation of leading Iraqi figures or those from a brotherly country on Iraqi soil is a massive breach of sovereignty," Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said.

Abdul Mahdi, whose government has the backing of Iran, said in a statement the U.S. airstrike was "a dangerous escalation that will light the fuse of a destructive war in Iraq, the region, and the world."

The global media's reactions range from a focus on the personality of the dead man to the larger volatile situation in Iraq and the broader repercussions on US-Iran ties.

(With inputs from AP)

First Published:Jan 3, 2020 4:30 PM IST