President Donald Trump has said the US killed Iran’s top military commander Qasem Soleimani “to stop a war, not to start one”.

He said Soleimani’s “reign of terror is over” after the strike at Baghdad airport in Iraq on Friday.

Soleimani spearheaded Iran’s Middle East operations as head of the Quds Force.

Iran has vowed “severe revenge” on those responsible for his death.

The killing marks a major escalation in tensions between the two counties.