US-Tehran tensions: Iran designates all US forces 'terrorists' for killing general

Tehran, Jan 07: Iranian lawmakers approved a motion designating US Army and Pentagon as terrorist organisations in response to assassination of Iran's General Qassem Soleimani.

General Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite al-Quds force and architect of its regional security apparatus, was killed following a US airstrike at Baghdad's international airport on Friday. The strike also killed the deputy chief of Iraq's powerful Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary force.

Trump alleged that Soleimani has been perpetrating acts of terror to destabilize the Middle East for the last 20 years.

An $80 million bounty has been placed on Trump's head after Soleimani was killed in a US airstrike last week.

Soleimani has led Iran's Quds Force since 1988. The Quds Force is an elite unit in Iran's Revolutionary Guards and is responsible for clandestine operations abroad.

He played a crucial role in bolstering the Syrian government's fight in the civil war and also in fighting the Islamic State. He first came to prominence in the 1980s during the Iran-Iraq War.

His Quds Force reported directly to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He was a hugely significant figure in the Iranian regime.