Foreign relations of Iran

Four CV-22B Osprey tilt-rotor planes and two C-130 Hercules military cargo planes landed at the military base at Souda in Crete on Thursday, Kathimerini understands.
According to sources, the six aircraft, which flew to Greece from the RAF Mildenhall US air base in England, will be deployed in potential operations to evacuate American nationals or officers from Iraq's wider region.

Police have stepped up security at the American and Israeli embassies in the Greek capital amid fears of retaliation following a US air strike against a leading Iranian military commander.

Greece called for "cool-headedness" and "moderation" following the US killing of Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's elite Quds Force.

"Greece is following with great concern the developments in Iraq," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement Friday.

Turkey expressed concern about escalating U.S.-Iranian tension and called on all the parties to avoid unilateral steps that would jeopardize the stability in the region after the U.S. killed Iranian commander Qassem Suleymani.

This happened hours after the assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani.

The United States called on its citizens in Iraq to leave the country immediately. It happened hours after the assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in a US missile strike in Baghdad, BTA reported.

The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) leader has urged the government to keep Turkey away from the "growing fire" in the Middle East after the United States killed top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani, repeating his party's objection to sending Turkish troops to Libya.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to cut short his trip to Greece following the assassination of Major-General Qassem Soleimani, head of Iran's Quds Force, said an official in Netanyahu's office.

The US confirmed that it carried out a strike that killed Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani in the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

The United States killed Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani, head of the elite Quds Force and spearhead of Iran's spreading military influence in the Middle East, in an airstrike at Baghdad airport, the Pentagon and Iran said.

Top Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, an adviser to Soleimani, was also killed in the attack, a militia spokesman said.

Iran, Russia and China began joint military exercise in the Arabian Sea and north of the Indian Ocean, according to an Iranian news agency on Dec. 27.

Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that the military exercise by the navies of Iran, Russia, and China will cover an area of 17,000 kilometers and it will last four days.