BAGHDAD/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -
Iran promised vengeance after a U.S. air strike in Baghdad on Friday killed Qassem Soleimani, Tehran's most prominent military commander and the architect of its growing influence in the Middle East.
Soleimani, a 62-year-old general who headed the overseas arm of the Revolutionary Guards, was regarded as the second most powerful figure after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The overnight attack, authorized by U.S. President
Donald Trump, was a major escalation in a "shadow war" in the
Middle East between Iran and the
United States and
American allies, principally Israel and Saudi Arabia.