CAIRO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th January, 2020) Iran and the United States should not escalate tensions further following a US drone attack that killed Qasem Soleimani, the head of Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC) elite Quds Force, Oman's Foreign Ministry said Sunday, while calling for both parties to use diplomatic channels and avoid further violence in the middle East.
"The Sultanate [of Oman] is following the recent regrettable increase in tensions with great attention. It calls on both sides to prioritize dialogue and search for diplomatic means to resolve disputes in a manner that will bring the conflict in the region to an end," the ministry said in a statement published by state-run Oman news Agency.
The Omani Foreign Ministry also called on the international community to take measures to help deescalate tensions in the region, and to seek security and stability.
In the early hours of Friday, Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of an Iraqi Shia militia group, were among those killed by a US drone attack near Baghdad International Airport. Soleimani and al-Muhandis were blamed by Washington for organizing demonstrations at the US Embassy in Baghdad on December 31.
US President Donald Trump called the attack a preemptive, defensive strike, but on Sunday declared on Twitter that Washington had "targeted 52 Iranian sites," including cultural objects, and will conduct further attacks if provoked. The targets represent the 52 US hostages taken by Iran in 1979. The Iranian leadership has called the operation that killed Soleimani a heinous crime and vowed to take revenge.
