Iran ‘puts $80 Million bounty on Donald Trump’s head’ after general’s killing

An organiser of the funeral of General Qasem Soleimani has called on every Iranian to donate $1 to fund a bounty on Donald Trump. They want to raise $80 million (£60 million), according to state TV and threatened to attack the White House in response to the top official’s assassination. The attack was ordered by the president himself and has sparked international condemnation. That threat, along with other rhetoric over the weekend, led Trump to say the US could respond ‘in a disproportionate manner’ to any attack on US people or targets. He also insists Iranian cultural sites are fair game for the US military, dismissing concerns within his own administration that doing so could constitute a war crime under international law.

He also warned Iraq he would levy punishing sanctions if it expelled American troops in retaliation for a US airstrike in Baghdad that killed a top Iranian official. Mr Trump’s comments on Sunday came amid escalating tensions in the Middle East following the assassination of General Qasem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds force.

Iraq Tells Trump GTFO After Soleimani Strike

On Sunday, just days after the U.S. strike that killed the powerful Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani, the Trump administration got its first real taste of international pushback. The Iraqi parliament voted to oust American troops from the country and Tehran announced that it would pull completely out of its obligations under the 2015 nuclear deal.

The push-back didn’t come in the form of a targeted strike on a major American outpost or U.S. service member, but combined, the two events served as a wake-up call for officials in Washington who for days had tried desperately to manage the fallout of the Soleimani strike, with some describing it as an act to “advance the cause of peace.” Yahoo news reported.

President Donald Trump’s truculent response? Threaten Iraq with sanctions if it expels U.S. troops: “If they do ask us to leave, if we don’t do it in a very friendly basis, we will charge them sanctions like they’ve never seen before ever. It’ll make Iranian sanctions look somewhat tame.”

Tehran’s announcement about its nuclear program Sunday indicated that the efforts Iran and the United States made in recent months to discuss the possibility of negotiations had all but evaporated. And the Iraqi vote in parliament, although nonbinding, worried officials in the State Department who for days had tried to convince officials in Iraq that backing America’s presence in the country was still the best bet for a continued partnership.