MOSCOW, January 6. /TASS/. Russian Defense Minister Army General Sergey Shoigu held telephone talks on Monday with Chief of Staff of Iran Major General Mohammad Bagheri in connection with the killing of the Iran’s Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani.

"The military leaders discussed practical steps during the conversation for prevention of escalation of the situation in the Syrian Arab Republic and the Middle East in connection with the killing of commander of the Quds special unit General Qasem Soleimani near Baghdad," the Ministry said.

The situation in the Middle East aggravated dramatically after the US missile strike near the Baghdad airport, killing head of the Iran’s Quds Force Qasem Soleimani. Tehran promised a tough response to the US and started scaling down its obligations under the nuclear deal.