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| - Here is a recap of events since the killing of top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad by the United States on January 3, which has escalated tensions between Tehran and Washington: On January 3, a US drone strike near Baghdad's international airport kills Soleimani, head of the Revolutionary Guard Corps' foreign operations arm, the Qods Force. Also among the dead is Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy chief of the Tehran-backed Iraqi paramilitary network Hashed al-Shaabi. The Pentagon confirms US President Donald Trump ordered Soleimani's killing, while the US embassy in Baghdad urges all Americans to leave Iraq "immediately". The killing comes days after pro-Iranian supporters stormed the US embassy in Baghdad, chanting "Death to America!", angered by US strikes against Hashed bases in Iraq. Those US strikes, on December 29, had been in retaliation for rocket attacks against US interests in Iraq in which a US civilian contractor was killed. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei promises "severe revenge" for Soleimani's death. Iraq's caretaker prime minister Adel Abdel Mahdi warns the US strike will "spark a devastating war in Iraq". US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tells CNN Soleimani had been planning imminent action "that would have put dozens if not hundreds of American lives at risk". A Pentagon official says the US is deploying up to 3,500 more troops to the Middle East. On January 4, Trump warns the US is targeting 52 sites in Iran and will hit them "very fast and very hard" if the Islamic republic attacks American personnel or assets. He says sites "important to... Iranian culture" are on the list. The next day, Pompeo insists any US military action against Iran will conform to international law after Trump is accused of threatening a war crime by declaring cultural sites as potential targets. On January 5, Iran announces its fifth step back from the nuclear deal with world powers agreed in 2015, saying it will forgo a "limit on the number of centrifuges". On January 7, Iran's parliament passes a bill designating all US forces "terrorists" over the killing. After days of mourning for Soleimani in Iraq and Iran, a stampede during a massive funeral procession in Iran kills more than 50 people. Iran launches a volley of missiles at Iraqi bases housing US and other coalition troops on January 8, which Khamenei calls a "slap in the face" for the US. Hours later, a Ukrainian passenger jet crashes down into a field shortly after taking off from Tehran, killing all 176 people on board. In a televised address from the White House, Trump pulls back from the brink of war, saying Tehran appears to be "standing down" after firing the missiles, which caused no casualties. He promises to immediately impose "punishing" new economic sanctions on Tehran. On January 10, Trump says he thinks Soleimani was planning attacks against four US embassies before he was killed. The next day, Rouhani says a military probe into the Ukrainian passenger jet tragedy found "missiles fired due to human error" brought down the Boeing 737. The crash, which is Iran's worst civil aviation disaster since 1988, was an "unforgivable mistake", he says. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweets, "Human error at time of crisis caused by US adventurism led to disaster." acm-paj-eab/sw
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