World War 3 fears allayed as US says it is ready for ‘serious talks’ with Iran to avert all-out conflict
FEARS the crisis in the Middle East could spark World War 3 have been allayed after the US said it was ready for "serious talks" with Iran.
In a letter to the UN Security Council America said the killing of top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani was in "self defence".
It also vowed the country would take action "as necessary " to protect its personal interests but it was "ready to engage in serious negotiations" with Iran.
On Friday President Trump ordered a drone strike on a Baghdad airport which killed general Soleimani.
Searches for World War 3 spiked on social media after Iran retaliated to the killing by attacking two US air bases in Iraq yesterday.
In a letter to the UN, seen by , American Ambassador Kelly Craft said the United States was "ready to engage without preconditions in serious negotiations with Iran, with the goal of preventing further endangerment of international peace and security or escalation by the Iranian regime.”
She also wrote that the killing of general Soleimani was "justified under Article 51 of the UN Charter".
Article 51 requires countries to "immediately report" to the Security Council any measures taken in exercising the right to self defence.
Iran also wrote to the UN citing Article 51 as the reason for its retaliated missile strike on Wednesday.
Majid Takht Ravanchi, Iran's Ambassador to the UN, wrote the country did not "seek an escalation of war" and its self defence missile strike was a "measured and proportionate response", Reuters reports.
Tehran fired at least 15 ballistic missiles at Al Asad and Erbil air bases in Iraq in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Despite Iranian claims that 80 “American terrorists” died in the barrage, Donald Trump said no US lives were lost in the attack.
The US president claimed victory and in a speech yesterday said Tehran was “standing down” and that its “campaign of terror” was over.
But a senior commander in Iran’s fanatical Revolutionary Guards today warned there was more to come.
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Abdollah Araghi said Iran would take "harsher revenge soon", according to the country’s Tasnim news agency.
Soon after the missiles were launched, Iran's foreign minister Javad Zarif called the attack a proportionate measure in self-defence and said he doesn't want the situation to escalate.
Protesters have taken to the streets outside the White House pleading for the country not to go to war.
