Here’s a closing summary of today’s events:
- More than 50 people have been killed in a crush in the south-eastern Iranian city of Kerman, where hundreds of thousands of mourners gathered for the burial of the military commander Qassem Suleimani. State media said 56 people had been killed and 213 injured.
- Suleimani’s burial has been postponed due to the size of the crowd. It comes a day after Iranian police said millions gathered to mourn Suleimani in Tehran, in the largest turnout since the 1989 funeral of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
- The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo has again defended the killing of Suleimani but provided no new evidence to support the US claim that the general posed a direct threat to US lives. At a press conference he accused Iran of propaganda by claiming Suleimani was in Baghdad on a diplomatic mission. Pompeo also said he was “confident” that lawyers were consulted before Donald Trump ordered the strike.
- The UK’s ambassador to Iran, Rob Macaire, has been summoned by Iran’s foreign ministry and warned against siding with the US over the attack. Macaire was also told to convey a message to London that UK should not be a “partner in this crime”.
- Iranian military forces have said they are prepared to use medium- to long-range missiles to attack US bases in the Middle East, in revenge for the assassination of Suleimani. The secretary of Iran’s national security council, Ali Shamkhani, said: “The 27 US bases that are closest to Iran’s border are already on high alert; they know that the response is likely to include medium-range & long-range missiles.”
- Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, has vowed that Iran will respond “proportionately” to the killing of Suleimani. He described the US-ordered drone strike as an act of state terrorism and claimed Donald Trump had no respect for international law.
- Javad Zarif has also been told he will not get a US visa to travel to the United Nations later this week. He accused the US of violating the 1947 UN HQ Agreement.
- British ships and helicopters have been placed on standby in the Middle East in case there is a further military escalation of the Iran crisis, the defence minister told MPs in the Commons. Ben Wallace said the UK had taken “urgent measures” to protect British nationals and interests in Iraq and other nearby countries should Iran retaliate.
- Boris Johnson was due to chair a meeting of the UK national security council to discuss the crisis. The foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, has travelled to Brussels for talks with his European counterparts.
- Germany is reducing its troop numbers in Iraq for security reasons after the US killing of Suleimani. It is the first coalition withdrawal since the Iraqi parliament voted on Sunday to call for the withdrawal of US forces from the country.
That’s it for today. Our US politics live blog will cover any major developments on the aftermath of the assassination of Suleimani and there will be more reports and analysis on our Iran page.