Foreign Office urge Brits to leave Iraq and avoid travel to Iran after US drone strike which killed Iranian general
BRITS are being told to urgently flee Iraq amid growing tensions after the US assassination of Iran's top general.
The Foreign Office has escalated its warnings over travel to the Middle East after a drone strike ordered by Donald Trump killed Iranian military chief Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad.
It comes after Iran today pinpointed 35 "key US targets" as it unfurled a red flag of revenge.
Hours later, rockets were fired near the US Embassy in Baghdad and at an airbase housing American troops, according to reports.
British nationals have now been advised not to travel to Iraq, apart from essential travel to its Kurdistan Region, and all but essential travel to Iran was warned against.
The Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is to meet US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Washington on Thursday.
He will also sit down with his French and German counterparts earlier in the week following the crisis.
The Foreign Office said anyone in Iraq outside the Kurdistan Region should consider leaving immediately because the "uncertain" security situation "could deteriorate quickly".
It also advised against "all but essential travel" to Iran.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the updated advice was issued due to "heightened tensions in the region."
He added: "The first job of any Government is to keep British people safe."
Two attacks in Iraq today came just hours after mourners chanted "death to America" at the funeral of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani.
There are not believed to be any injuries after the rockets fell at the embassy compound - in the Iraqi capital's green zone - and near Iraq's Balad airbase.
WARPATH
Missiles also rained down on Baghdad's Jadriya neighbourhood - wounding five people, police said.
The chilling flag display is seen as a clear warning the Islamic Republic is ready to fulfil its worrying pledge to strike back at America and Donald Trump.
Red flags in Shiite tradition symbolise both blood spilled unjustly and serve as a call to avenge a person who is slain.
It was hoisted above the important Jamkaran Mosque which is on the outskirts of the holy city of Qom, about 100 miles south of Tehran.
It took to the skies as General Qasem Soleimani's daughter pleaded with the Iranian president to strike back over her father's death.
“Who is going to avenge my father’s blood,” she was reported as asking Hassan Rouhani during his visit to the family's Tehran home.
Mr Rouhani replied: “We will avenge, all of us will avenge his blood. Don’t you worry."
The news came as an Iranian military leader said his forces had pinpointed dozens of US interests for attack including “destroyers and warships” near the Persian Gulf and Tel Aviv.
MOST READ IN WORLD NEWS
General Gholamali Abuhamzeh warned of a possible attack on “vital American targets” located in the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation of Soleimani’s death.
He said: “Vital American targets in the region have been identified by Iran since long time ago ... some 35 US targets in the region, as well as Tel Aviv, are within our reach."
