Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has made it clear in a phone call with his Iraqi counterpart, Barham Salih, that the two neighbors will remain close allies even as they mourn high-profile commanders recently assassinated by the United States.

Former Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi warned that the US assassination of Commander of IRGC Qods Force Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani who spearheaded anti-terrorism fight in the region pursues no goal but resurrection of the ISIL.

Millions of Iranians have packed the streets of Tehran to pay homage to the Middle East's most prominent anti-terror commander General Qassem Soleimani who was assassinated on US President Donald Trump's order Friday.

Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said on Sunday that the Iranian legislature will seriously pursue the case for the country’s retaliation for the assassination of anti-terror commander General Qassem Soleimani and his companions by the terrorist army of the US in Baghdad.

Major General Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of Iran's Expediency Discernment Council and a former chief of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), has said that Israel's port city of Haifa and other key targets will be hit if Washington attacks Iran.

A senior commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps warned that Iran has spotted 35 US targets in the region as well as Tel Aviv for possible attacks in response to the Friday assassination of IRGC Qods Force Commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani.

Head of Iran's Army Center for Strategic Studies Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan said that the US has asked 16 countries of the world to mediate for convincing Tehran not to retaliate the assassination of IRGC Qods Force Commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani.

A senior adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says if the United States continues to keep its forces in the Middle East, the region will turn into a new Vietnam for Washington.