Updates to our Terms of Use

We are updating our Terms of Use. Please carefully review the updated Terms before proceeding to our website.

Wednesday, March 27, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Assassination in Baghdad Triggers Global Alarm

Global powers are warning that the world has become a more dangerous place after President Donald Trump ordered the targeted killing of Iran's top general, and are urging restraint on all sides.

PARIS (AP) — Global powers are warning that the world has become a more dangerous place after President Donald Trump ordered the targeted killing of Iran's top general, and are urging restraint on all sides.

China, Russia and France, all permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, took a dim view of the U.S. airstrike near Baghdad's airport early Friday that killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

"We are waking up in a more dangerous world. Military escalation is always dangerous," France's deputy minister for foreign affairs, Amélie de Montchalin, said on RTL radio. "When such actions, such operations, take place, we see that escalation is underway."

Russia's Foreign Ministry, via an unnamed diplomat quoted by the state-run TASS news agency, condemned the killing as "an adventurist step that would lead to growing tensions throughout the entire region."

China described itself as "highly concerned."

"Peace in the Middle East and the Gulf region should be preserved," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said. "We urge all parties concerned, especially the United States, to maintain calm and restraint and avoid further escalation of tensions."

Montchalin, the French minister, indicated that urgent reconciliation efforts are being launched behind the scenes. French President Emmanuel Macron and his foreign minister were reaching out to "all the actors in the region," she said.

Categories / International, Politics

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Loading...