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File photo taken on July 11, 2018 shows the Pentagon seen from an airplane over Washington D.C., the United States. The U.S. Department of Defense announced on the night of Jan. 2, 2020 that U.S. forces had carried out a strike that killed Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

WASHINGTON, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Department of Defense announced on Thursday night that U.S. forces had carried out a strike that killed Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps.

"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," said the Pentagon in a statement.

"This strike was aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans," the statement added.

An attack near Baghdad International Airport on Friday killed Soleimani, along with Abu Mahdi al-Muhamdis, the deputy chief of Iraq's paramilitary Hashd Shaabi forces, reported the Iraqi state TV earlier Friday.

The attack came amid high tensions between Washington and Tehran.

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File photo taken on July 11, 2018 shows the Pentagon seen from an airplane over Washington D.C., the United States. The U.S. Department of Defense announced on the night of Jan. 2, 2020 that U.S. forces had carried out a strike that killed Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

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