WASHINGTON, January 3. /TASS/. The Pentagon has confirmed that a missile strike near the Baghdad airport that killed the head of the Quds Force, an elite unite of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, Qasem Soleimani was carried out at the direction of President Donald Trump.

"At the direction of the President, the U.S. military has taken decisive defensive action to protect U.S. personnel abroad by killing Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force, a U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organization," the statement said.

General Soleimani was actively developing plans to attack US diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region, the Pentagon said. "General Soleimani also approved the attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad that took place this week."

"This strike was aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans. The United States will continue to take all necessary action to protect our people and our interests wherever they are around the world," the Pentagon stressed.

Earlier, Sky News Arabia reported that commander of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Qassem Soleimani and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis were killed in a missile attack near the Baghdad airport on Friday. Two high-ranking military officials were traveling in a convoy of vehicles, which were targeted by a series of missile attacks, according to the report. The airport has been temporarily closed on security grounds.

The Quds Force is a unit in Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) that is actively involved in military conflicts in Syria and Iraq. It is believed that its successful operations are mainly to the credit of commander Qassem Soleimani. The Trump administration has branded Soleimani as a terrorist.

Mass protests outside the US embassy in Baghdad began on December 31 in the wake of a US airstrike a day earlier on the Kata'ib Hezbollah facilities near the Iraqi city of al-Qaim in the vicinity of the border with Syria. At least 25 Shia militias died and 50 others were wounded in this attack. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the attack on the US embassy in Baghdad was masterminded by terrorists and Iran’s allies.

On January 1, the US military used tear gas to disperse demonstrators who had attempted to set the embassy’s roof on fire, according to Al Arabiya TV channel. The protests ended in the evening and all demonstrators left the area near the US embassy in Baghdad.