Following assassination of Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani in a U.S air raid in Iraq on Friday and Iran's threat to take revenge, the U.S. Navy cancelled planned joint exercises with the Moroccan military to return the troops to the Middle-Eastern region.  

According to a U.S. Navy statement, the assault ship USS Bataan and the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which were due to take part in the exercises, are now being redeployed to the Middle East.

Earlier on Saturday, the Pentagon told the CNN broadcaster that the U.S. military is set to deploy an additional 2,800 troops in the Middle East as tensions with Iran mount.

President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday that Iran would definitely take revenge on the U.S. for killing General Soleimani.

“Vengeance for killing General Soleimani is an inalienable right for the Iranian people,” Rouhani said while meeting Soleimani’s family on Saturday morning.

Rouhani said not only the Iranian nation but also all Muslims and free-hearted people of the world are mourning the loss of the honorable martyr.

“People know the dimensions of his jihad and sacrifices and his actions and major measures should be elucidated for the world,” he said.

“This honorable martyr’s services aimed at providing security for the country, the region, especially for the people of Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, and Afghanistan, is unforgettable,” the president added.

Soleimani was martyred in an airstrike at Baghdad’s international airport on Friday morning.

The U.S. airstrike also martyred Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) and some other forces of the PMU.

The Pentagon had announced that General Soleimani was killed on Trump’s order.

According to the New York Times, the top Iranian general was killed when an American MQ-9 Reaper drone fired missiles into a convoy that was leaving the airport.

The strike was a serious escalation of Trump’s growing confrontation with Tehran, which began almost a week ago when U.S. forces conducted drone strikes on locations of the PMU forces in Iraq, killing at least 25 individuals and leaving another 51 injured.

MJ/