Michael Pompeo speaks to Bajwa over Qassem’s killing

Washington DC [USA]: US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo spoke to Pakistan’s Chief of Staff Qamar Bajwa over “US defensive action to kill Qassem Soleimani” to protect American interest in the region.

“Pakistan’s Chief of Staff General Bajwa and I spoke today about US defensive action to kill Qassem Soleimani. The Iran regime’s actions in the region are destabilizing and our resolve in protecting American interests, personnel, facilities, and partners will not waver,” wrote Pompeo on Twitter.

This comes at a backdrop of Washington’s strike carried out near Baghdad’s international airport killing Soleimani, a US-designated terrorist, along with six others on the direction of President Donald Trump.

Meanwhile, Iran on Friday vowed to take a “vigorous revenge” over the killing of General Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite IRGC.

The US had accused Soleimani of orchestrating several attacks on coalition bases in Iraq including the December 27 attack in which American and Iraqi personnel were killed.