President Donald Trump says the U.S. will immediately impose new sanctions on Iran in response to its missile attacks on military bases in Iraq that house American troops.

In an address to the nation Wednesday, Trump said those new "powerful sanctions" will remain until Iran abandons its nuclear ambitions and ends its support for terrorism.

Trump also said he would ask NATO to become more involved in the Middle East. That seems to indicate continued U.S. involvement in the region despite Trump's desire to withdraw troops from what he calls “endless wars.”

At the same time, Trump says the United State is “ready to embrace peace with all who seek it.”

Canada's top general says his country's military is temporarily relocating some soldiers from Iraq to Kuwait.

Gen. Jonathan Vance made the announcement Tuesday. Western troops in Iraq have been on high alert since the killing of Iran's top general by a U.S. drone strike last week in Baghdad.

Canada has about 500 soldiers in Iraq to help fight the Islamic State group. Canada currently leads the NATO training mission in Iraq.

Britain's defense secretary says urgent measures are being taken to protect British interests in the Middle East, as tensions rise between the U.S. and Iran.

Ben Wallace said Tuesday that the British government is looking at the implications of the vote in the Iraqi parliament that called for foreign troops. That came after a U.S. airstrike killed a top Iranian general shortly after he arrived at Baghdad's international airport. Iran has vowed to retaliate.

Wallace told lawmakers: "Our commitment to Iraq's stability and sovereignty is unwavering and we urge the Iraqi government to ensure the coalition is able to continue our work countering this shared threat," in a reference to the Islamic State group.

He said British forces in the region are on standby, while non-essential personnel have been relocated from Baghdad to the city of Taji, around 30 kilometers (18 miles) to the north.

Wallace said: "A small team has been sent to the region to provide additional situational awareness and contingency planning assistance."

Britain's defense secretary is urging Iranian leaders not to retaliating for the recent killing of their top general by the United States.

Ben Wallace appealed for calm Tuesday even as he told the House of Commons that Iran's "aggressive behavior" such as seizing civilian ships "was never going to go unchallenged."

Nonetheless, he says further conflict is in no one's interest. He added that "Her Majesty's Government urges Iran to return to the normal behavior of the country it aspires to be."

The main opposition Labour Party leader has questioned the legality of the U.S. actions.

Jeremy Corbyn is calling the Iranian general's killing an "assassination" that has placed British troops and civilians "in danger." He also warns against plunging the country into another war.

Wallace says it's up to the U.S. to explain its decision. He adds that from the intelligence he's seen "it is clear there was a case for self-defense to be made about an individual who had come to Iraq to coordinate murder and attacks on U.S. citizens."

U.S. embassies in a growing number of countries outside the Middle East are issuing security alerts to U.S. citizens.

Embassies in France, Algeria and Morocco issued alerts Tuesday warning of "heightened tension in the Middle East that may result in security risks to U.S. citizens abroad."

The warnings also have been issued at some embassies in sub-Saharan Africa. The U.S. Embassy in Tanzania issued one Monday.

Governments and companies around the world are weighing how to respond after a U.S. airstrike killed a top Iranian general near Baghdad's airport last week and Tehran vowed "harsh retaliation."

Sweden has joined a number of other countries in telling its citizens not to travel to Iraq, except to the self-governing Kurdish region. Tuesday's statement cited "changes in the security situation."

Neighboring Denmark two days ago noted "a very high security risk" and said those who decide to travel to Iraq "should seek professional counselling."

Governments and companies around the world are weighing how to respond to the rising tensions in the Middle East, after a U.S. airstrike killed a top Iranian general near Baghdad's airport last week. Tehran has vowed "harsh retaliation."

National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien says the U.S. "will not tolerate" the latest threats by Iran as tensions rise over the U.S. killing of a top Iranian general last week in Baghdad.

O'Brien told Fox News Channel's "Fox and Friends" on Tuesday that Iranian threats to Americans, U.S. shipping interests and more "have been around for 40 years" since the Iranian revolution.

He says the U.S. is watching the situation carefully.

In comments to reporters afterward, O'Brien also defended the drone strike that killed Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani and the intelligence on which the Trump administration says the operation was based. He called the information "very strong."

The U.S. has asserted that Soleimani was plotting to kill American diplomats and soldiers in significant numbers.

Egypt's national airline EgyptAir has temporarily suspended flights to Baghdad. A statement by the country's civil aviation authority says it is due to the turmoil that's taking place there.

A spokesman for the authority, Bassem Abdel Karim, says the airline will halt flights on Wednesday through Friday this week. He says authorities will then assess the situation and resume flights when they deem the situation safe again.

Governments and companies around the world are weighing how to respond to the rising tensions in the Middle East after a U.S. airstrike killed Iran's top military commander near Baghdad's airport last week and Tehran vowed "harsh retaliation."

Lebanon's president says the country is working to prevent rising tensions in the region from affecting stability at home.

Michel Aoun made the remarks on Tuesday during separate meetings with the U.N. special coordinator for Lebanon and the commander of the U.N. peacekeeping force deployed along the border with Israel.

A statement by Aoun's office quoted him as saying it is important that calm continues along the Lebanon-Israel border and to "prevent negative developments from happening there."

The leader of Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group has said the U.S. military will pay a price for killing Iran's top general and Iraqi militia leaders in Baghdad last week.

Finland's President Sauli Niinisto says relations between the United States and Iran are "in a critical state" and that the impacts of this crisis "threaten to extend also beyond the region."

His statement on Tuesday said the international community "must use all means" to create dialogue.

The Finnish head of state also reached out to neighboring Sweden's Prime Minister Stefan Lofven. Both Nordic nations have troops in Iraq that are part of the international coalition.

He did not say whether troops would be moved out of Iraq, as some other European nations are doing.

Croatia's defense ministry says the country's 14 troops in Iraq have been moved to Kuwait amid soaring tensions after a U.S. airstrike killed Iran's top commander in Baghdad last week.

The statement says any future steps also will be made in consultation with NATO allies.

A growing number of European countries are shifting troops out of Iraq.

Germany says it has moved 35 soldiers serving in Iraq to neighboring Jordan and Kuwait. Slovakia says it has moved its seven service members from Iraq to an unspecified location.

Slovenia, however, says its six soldiers in Iraq are staying there. They are posted at the Erbil base in northern Iraq. The defense ministry says it is constantly monitoring the situation and will make further decisions based on future developments.

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is traveling to Brussels for talks Tuesday with European counterparts about the situation in the Middle East as tensions soar after a U.S. airstrike killed a top Iranian general.

The talks are expected to assess the state of Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers after Tehran announced Sunday it is withdrawing from further commitments in the agreement.

Raab will have a bilateral meeting with the French foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, before meeting with German and Italian counterparts.

The Japanese Foreign Ministry has issued a warning to its citizens in the Middle East citing security concerns after Iran said it would retaliate against the U.S. following the killing of Tehran's top military commander.

The Japanese warning dated Sunday tells citizens to stay in a safe area, maintain communications channels and keep family and friends updated on whereabouts.

Japanese auto giant Toyota says it has not made any policy changes on travel for its employees to the Middle East.

China is criticizing the U.S. for reportedly denying a visa to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to attend United Nations meetings in New York.

Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said in Beijing on Tuesday that the U.S. has an international obligation to issue visas for such meetings as the host country of the U.N.

Zarif said the U.S. declined to issue him a visa, adding that "this is because they fear someone will go there and tell the truth to the American people." Tensions have soared over the killing of a top Iranian general in a U.S. airstrike last week.

Geng also said China is highly concerned about the situation in the Middle East and urged the U.S. not to abuse the use of force. He called on all parties to exercise restraint to prevent a spiral of escalation.

The remains of a senior Iraqi militia commander killed in a U.S. drone strike last week have been brought to Iraq from Iran for burial. Thousands of mourners clad in black chanted "America is the Great Satan" during the procession from the border.

Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a veteran Iraqi militant who was closely allied with Iran, was killed in the strike that also killed Iran's top general, Qassem Soleimani, in Baghdad.

Al-Muhandis' remains had been taken to Iran for DNA testing. They were sent back through the Shalamsheh border crossing to his hometown of Basra in southern Iraq before being transferred to the holy city of Najaf for burial.

Thousands of mourners in Basra's city center gathered to receive the body. Many waved banners of the Kataeb Hezbollah, or Hezbollah Brigades, that al-Muhandis founded. The U.S. has blamed the group, which is separate from the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, for a rocket attack in northern Iraq in late December that killed a U.S. contractor. That prompted the airstrike last week.

Slovakia says it has moved its seven service members from Iraq to an unspecified location. It is the latest European country to move troops in response to the soaring tensions after a U.S. airstrike killed Iran's top commander in Baghdad last week.

The office of Slovakia's Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini said Tuesday it will consult with NATO allies on further steps. Its seven service members have been in Iraq as part of a NATO training mission.

Germany plans to move some of its roughly 120 soldiers in Iraq to neighboring Jordan and Kuwait. Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer and Foreign Minister Heiko Maas wrote to lawmakers that the troops at the bases in Baghdad and Taji will be "temporarily thinned out," news agency dpa reported.

The two officials stressed that talks would continue with the Iraqi government on a continuation of the mission to train Iraqi troops. The majority of Germany's troops are not stationed in Taji and Baghdad but elsewhere in Iraq.

The leader of Iran's Revolutionary Guard has threatened to "set ablaze" places supported by the United States over the killing of a top Iranian general in a U.S. airstrike last week, sparking cries from the crowd of supporters of "Death to Israel!"

Hossein Salami made the pledge Tuesday before a crowd of thousands in a central square in Kerman, the hometown of the slain Gen. Qassem Soleimani. His vow mirrored the demands of top Iranian officials for retaliation against America for a slaying that's drastically raised tensions across the Middle East.

Mourners carried posters bearing the image of Soleimani, a man whose slaying prompted Iran's supreme leader to weep over his casket on Monday as a crowd said by police to be in the millions filled Tehran streets.

U.S. embassies in a growing number of countries outside the Middle East are issuing security alerts to U.S. citizens.

Embassies in France, Algeria and Morocco issued alerts Tuesday warning of "heightened tension in the Middle East that may result in security risks to U.S. citizens abroad."

The warnings also have been issued at some embassies in sub-Saharan Africa. The U.S. Embassy in Tanzania issued one Monday.

Governments and companies around the world are weighing how to respond after a U.S. airstrike killed a top Iranian general near Baghdad's airport last week and Tehran vowed "harsh retaliation."

Sweden has joined a number of other countries in telling its citizens not to travel to Iraq, except to the self-governing Kurdish region. Tuesday's statement cited "changes in the security situation."

Neighboring Denmark two days ago noted "a very high security risk" and said those who decide to travel to Iraq "should seek professional counselling."

Governments and companies around the world are weighing how to respond to the rising tensions in the Middle East, after a U.S. airstrike killed a top Iranian general near Baghdad's airport last week. Tehran has vowed "harsh retaliation."

National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien says the U.S. "will not tolerate" the latest threats by Iran as tensions rise over the U.S. killing of a top Iranian general last week in Baghdad.

O'Brien told Fox News Channel's "Fox and Friends" on Tuesday that Iranian threats to Americans, U.S. shipping interests and more "have been around for 40 years" since the Iranian revolution.

He says the U.S. is watching the situation carefully.

In comments to reporters afterward, O'Brien also defended the drone strike that killed Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani and the intelligence on which the Trump administration says the operation was based. He called the information "very strong."

The U.S. has asserted that Soleimani was plotting to kill American diplomats and soldiers in significant numbers.

Egypt's national airline EgyptAir has temporarily suspended flights to Baghdad. A statement by the country's civil aviation authority says it is due to the turmoil that's taking place there.

A spokesman for the authority, Bassem Abdel Karim, says the airline will halt flights on Wednesday through Friday this week. He says authorities will then assess the situation and resume flights when they deem the situation safe again.

Governments and companies around the world are weighing how to respond to the rising tensions in the Middle East after a U.S. airstrike killed Iran's top military commander near Baghdad's airport last week and Tehran vowed "harsh retaliation."

Lebanon's president says the country is working to prevent rising tensions in the region from affecting stability at home.

Michel Aoun made the remarks on Tuesday during separate meetings with the U.N. special coordinator for Lebanon and the commander of the U.N. peacekeeping force deployed along the border with Israel.

A statement by Aoun's office quoted him as saying it is important that calm continues along the Lebanon-Israel border and to "prevent negative developments from happening there."

The leader of Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group has said the U.S. military will pay a price for killing Iran's top general and Iraqi militia leaders in Baghdad last week.

Finland's President Sauli Niinisto says relations between the United States and Iran are "in a critical state" and that the impacts of this crisis "threaten to extend also beyond the region."

His statement on Tuesday said the international community "must use all means" to create dialogue.

The Finnish head of state also reached out to neighboring Sweden's Prime Minister Stefan Lofven. Both Nordic nations have troops in Iraq that are part of the international coalition.

He did not say whether troops would be moved out of Iraq, as some other European nations are doing.

Croatia's defense ministry says the country's 14 troops in Iraq have been moved to Kuwait amid soaring tensions after a U.S. airstrike killed Iran's top commander in Baghdad last week.

The statement says any future steps also will be made in consultation with NATO allies.

A growing number of European countries are shifting troops out of Iraq.

Germany says it has moved 35 soldiers serving in Iraq to neighboring Jordan and Kuwait. Slovakia says it has moved its seven service members from Iraq to an unspecified location.

Slovenia, however, says its six soldiers in Iraq are staying there. They are posted at the Erbil base in northern Iraq. The defense ministry says it is constantly monitoring the situation and will make further decisions based on future developments.

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab is traveling to Brussels for talks Tuesday with European counterparts about the situation in the Middle East as tensions soar after a U.S. airstrike killed a top Iranian general.

The talks are expected to assess the state of Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers after Tehran announced Sunday it is withdrawing from further commitments in the agreement.

Raab will have a bilateral meeting with the French foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, before meeting with German and Italian counterparts.

The Japanese Foreign Ministry has issued a warning to its citizens in the Middle East citing security concerns after Iran said it would retaliate against the U.S. following the killing of Tehran's top military commander.

The Japanese warning dated Sunday tells citizens to stay in a safe area, maintain communications channels and keep family and friends updated on whereabouts.

Japanese auto giant Toyota says it has not made any policy changes on travel for its employees to the Middle East.

China is criticizing the U.S. for reportedly denying a visa to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to attend United Nations meetings in New York.

Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said in Beijing on Tuesday that the U.S. has an international obligation to issue visas for such meetings as the host country of the U.N.

Zarif said the U.S. declined to issue him a visa, adding that "this is because they fear someone will go there and tell the truth to the American people." Tensions have soared over the killing of a top Iranian general in a U.S. airstrike last week.

Geng also said China is highly concerned about the situation in the Middle East and urged the U.S. not to abuse the use of force. He called on all parties to exercise restraint to prevent a spiral of escalation.

The remains of a senior Iraqi militia commander killed in a U.S. drone strike last week have been brought to Iraq from Iran for burial. Thousands of mourners clad in black chanted "America is the Great Satan" during the procession from the border.

Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a veteran Iraqi militant who was closely allied with Iran, was killed in the strike that also killed Iran's top general, Qassem Soleimani, in Baghdad.

Al-Muhandis' remains had been taken to Iran for DNA testing. They were sent back through the Shalamsheh border crossing to his hometown of Basra in southern Iraq before being transferred to the holy city of Najaf for burial.

Thousands of mourners in Basra's city center gathered to receive the body. Many waved banners of the Kataeb Hezbollah, or Hezbollah Brigades, that al-Muhandis founded. The U.S. has blamed the group, which is separate from the Lebanese Hezbollah movement, for a rocket attack in northern Iraq in late December that killed a U.S. contractor. That prompted the airstrike last week.

Slovakia says it has moved its seven service members from Iraq to an unspecified location. It is the latest European country to move troops in response to the soaring tensions after a U.S. airstrike killed Iran's top commander in Baghdad last week.

The office of Slovakia's Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini said Tuesday it will consult with NATO allies on further steps. Its seven service members have been in Iraq as part of a NATO training mission.

Germany plans to move some of its roughly 120 soldiers in Iraq to neighboring Jordan and Kuwait. Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer and Foreign Minister Heiko Maas wrote to lawmakers that the troops at the bases in Baghdad and Taji will be "temporarily thinned out," news agency dpa reported.

The two officials stressed that talks would continue with the Iraqi government on a continuation of the mission to train Iraqi troops. The majority of Germany's troops are not stationed in Taji and Baghdad but elsewhere in Iraq.

The leader of Iran's Revolutionary Guard has threatened to "set ablaze" places supported by the United States over the killing of a top Iranian general in a U.S. airstrike last week, sparking cries from the crowd of supporters of "Death to Israel!"

Hossein Salami made the pledge Tuesday before a crowd of thousands in a central square in Kerman, the hometown of the slain Gen. Qassem Soleimani. His vow mirrored the demands of top Iranian officials for retaliation against America for a slaying that's drastically raised tensions across the Middle East.

Mourners carried posters bearing the image of Soleimani, a man whose slaying prompted Iran's supreme leader to weep over his casket on Monday as a crowd said by police to be in the millions filled Tehran streets.

The blowback over the U.S. killing of a top Iranian general mounted Sunday as Iraq's Parliament called for the expulsion of American troops from the country — a move that could allow a resurgence of the Islamic State group.

Lawmakers approved a resolution asking the Iraqi government to end the agreement under which Washington sent forces more than four years ago to help fight IS. The bill is nonbinding and subject to approval by the Iraqi government but has the backing of the outgoing prime minister.

The vote was another sign of the backlash from the U.S. airstrike Friday that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani and a number of top Iraqi officials at the Baghdad airport. Soleimani was the architect of Iran's proxy wars across the Mideast and was blamed for the deaths of hundreds of Americans in roadside bombings and other attacks.

Amid threats of vengeance from Iran, the U.S.-led military coalition in Iraq said Sunday it is putting the battle against IS militants on hold to focus on protecting its own troops and bases.

In a strong speech before lawmakers in Parliament, Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi said that after the killing of Soleimani, the government has two choices: End the presence of foreign troops in Iraq or restrict their mission to training Iraqi forces. He called for "urgent measures" to remove foreign forces — including the estimated 5,200 U.S. troops.

Asked shortly before the parliamentary vote whether the U.S. would comply with an Iraqi government request for American troops to leave, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would not answer directly, saying the U.S. was watching the situation.

But the added: "It is the United States that is prepared to help the Iraqi people get what it is they deserve and continue our mission there to take down terrorism from ISIS and others in the region."

Abdul-Mahdi resigned last year in response to the anti-government protests that have engulfed Baghdad and the mostly Shiite southern provinces. Political factions have been unable to agree on a new prime minister, and Abdul-Mahdi continues in a caretaker capacity. Experts said such a government is not legally authorized to sign such a law.

Pentagon officials have said the Iraqi government does not have to give one year's notice to expel American troops, as was required under a previous U.S.-Iraqi agreement.

The death of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in the drone attack has especially drawn the ire of Iraqi officials, who considered the airstrike an infringement of Iraqi sovereignty. Al-Muhandis was deputy commander of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella group of mostly Shiite paramilitaries folded under the Iraqi military.

American forces withdrew from Iraq in 2011 but returned in 2014 at the invitation of the government to help battle IS after it seized vast areas in the north and west of the country, including Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul. A U.S.-led coalition provided crucial air support as Iraqi forces regrouped and drove IS out in a costly three-year campaign.

A pullout of U.S. troops could could cripple the fight against the Islamic State and allow it to make a comeback. Militants affiliated with IS routinely carry out attacks in northern and western Iraq, hiding out in rugged desert and mountainous areas. Iraqi forces rely on the U.S. for logistics and weapons.

An American withdrawal could also enable Iran to deepen its influence in Iraq, a majority Shiiite country like Iran.

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on Fox News that the parliamentary vote is "a bit concerning."

"The Iranian government is trying to basically take over Iraq's political system. Iran is bribing Iraqi politicians. To the Iraqi people, do not allow your politicians to turn Iraq into a proxy of Iran," the South Carolina Republican said.

The attack that killed Soleimani has dramatically escalated regional tensions and raised fears of outright war.

Because of the dangers, the U.S.-led military coalition said it it is suspending the training of Iraqi forces and other operations in support of the battle against ISIS.

Also, the leader of Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group vowed to end the U.S. military's presence in the Middle East, saying U.S. bases, warships and soldiers are now fair targets.

"The suicide attackers who forced the Americans to leave from our region in the past are still here and their numbers have increased," Nasrallah said. It was not clear which suicide bombings Nasrallah was referring to. But a 1983 attack on a U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, killed 241 U.S. servicemen and led President Ronald Reagan to withdraw all American forces from the country.

 "When American troops return in coffins, when they come vertically and return horizontally to the United States of America, then Trump and his administration will know that they lost the region and will lose the elections," Nasrallah said.

He added that U.S. civilians in the region should not be targeted because attacking them would play into President Donald Trump's hands.

Nasrallah spoke from an undisclosed location, and his speech was played on large screens for thousands of Shiite followers in southern Beirut, interrupted by chants of "Death to America!" The comments were Nasrallah's first since Soleimani's killing.

The majority of about 180 legislators present in Parliament voted in favor of the troop-removal resolution. It was backed by most Shiite members of Parliament, who hold a majority of seats. Many Sunni and Kurdish legislators did not show up for the session, apparently because they oppose abolishing the deal.

"The government should work on ending the presence of all foreign forces," Parliament Speaker Mohamed a-Halbousi said after the vote.

Killing Iran's most powerful general — a step Abdul-Mahdi called a "political assassination" — marked a turning point in U.S. Mideast policy by elevating a conflict that had previously been more of a shadow war, and by putting in doubt the Pentagon's ability to keep troops in Iraq.

More broadly, the killing appears to have lessened chances that Trump will achieve the central goal of his "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran: to compel its leaders to negotiate a new, broader nuclear deal.

The administration also faces troubling questions about the legality of the Soleimani killing, its failure to consult Congress in advance, and the prospect of plunging America into a new Mideast war.

Iran's ancient and rich cultural landscape has become a potential U.S. military target as Washington and Tehran lob threats and take high-stakes steps toward a possible open conflict.

President Donald Trump tweeted Saturday evening that if Iran attacks any American assets to avenge the killing of a top Iranian general, the U.S. has 52 targets across the Islamic Republic that "WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD."

Some are "important to Iran & Iranian culture," Trump wrote on Twitter.

That vague comment drew immediate anger across Iran.

"I'm not sure when he says cultural sites, does he for example mean our Persepolis?" said Mehrdad Khadir, a cultural and political analyst in Tehran, referring to the ancient ruins invaded by the Greeks in 330 BC. "Does he want to be seen as the new Alexander (the Great) by Iranians?"

If the U.S. were to directly bomb Iran, it could spark a war and lead to region-wide violence, potentially drawing other countries into a global conflict.

Iran's earliest traces of human history reach as far back as 100,000 BC. Its historic monuments preserve the legacy of a civilization that has kept its Persian identity throughout the tides of foreign conquests, weaving in influences from Turkic, South Asian and Arab cultures, and the footprints of Alexander the Great and later Islam.

"Through MILLENNIA of history, barbarians have come and ravaged our cities, razed our monuments and burnt our libraries," Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif tweeted in response Sunday. "Where are they now? We're still here, & standing tall."

Trump's threat also raised questions about the legality of such an attack on heritage of global importance.

Targeting cultural sites is a war crime under the 1954 Hague Convention for the protection of cultural sites. The United Nations Security Council also passed unanimously a resolution in 2017 condemning the destruction of heritage sites. Attacks by the Islamic State group and other armed factions in Syria and Iraq prompted that vote.

"I'm really sorry that we are living in a world where the president of the biggest so-called superpower still doesn't know that attacking cultural sites is a war crime," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi told journalists in Tehran.

Telecommunications minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi compared Trump's threats to strike cultural sites to the Islamic State group, Adolf Hitler and Genghis Khan, calling the U.S. president a "terrorist in a suit."

Trump's tweet also caused concern in Washington. One U.S. national security official said Trump's threat to target Iranian cultural sites had caught many in his administration off-guard and prompted calls for others in his government, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to clarify the matter. The official, who was not authorized to speak publicly to the issue, called such a clarification necessary to affirm that the U.S. military would not intentionally commit war crimes.

Among Iranians, pride in the country's culture supersedes the divisive and nationalistic fervor whipped up by current politics that has put a chasm between hard-liners in Tehran and the diaspora of Iranians in the West.

Tensions sharply escalated between Washington and Tehran following America's targeted killing early Friday in Iraq of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's powerful Quds Force. The U.S. Defense Department said it killed Soleimani because he was developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in the Middle East.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has vowed "harsh retaliation," calling Soleimani the "international face of resistance" against Western hegemony.

Zarif also wrote on Twitter Sunday that after committing "grave breaches" in killing Soleimani, Trump is now threatening a "WAR CRIME" in targeting cultural sites.

Long before the 1979 Islamic Revolution birthed Iran's Shiite theocracy, the land historically known as Persia was the birthplace of towering Islamic figures like the mystic poet Rumi and the philosopher Abu Hamid al-Ghazali. It's also home to the tombs of great scholars, including Ibn Sina, also known as Avicenna and the father of modern medicine.

Iran is home to two dozen UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including Persepolis with its ancient ruins that date back to 518 BC, the 17th century grand mosque of Isfahan located in a teeming bazaar, and the Golestan Palace in the heart of Tehran, where the last shah to rule Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was crowned in 1967.

The country's cultural sites reflect the expanse of Iran's history: Geological and archaeological sites date back several thousand years, while 1,000-year-old sites reflect Iran's contributions to the Golden Age of Islam. In Qom, the Feizeh Religious Science School and a shrine of a Shiite saint, Masoumeh, attract Muslim pilgrims from around the world, reinforcing Iran's preeminent place among Shiite clerics, theologians and scholars.

More recently, though, some of the most iconic cultural sites have come to embody the nation's defiance in the face of the United States. For example, the iconic Azadi Tower, or Freedom Tower, with its famed white marble arch is where hundreds of thousands gather in Tehran each year and chant slogans against the U.S. to mark the anniversary of the 1979 revolution.

On Monday, the famed Musalla mosque in Tehran will be used by mourners to grieve Iran's fallen commander. Soleimani's body will lie in state there before his burial in the city of Kerman on Tuesday.

If culturally prominent sites were targeted, the Trump administration might argue they were being used to covertly stockpile weapons that could target U.S. interests and personnel in the region.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard has in the past deployed HAWK anti-aircraft missiles around the sprawling tomb complex of Ruhollah Khomeini where the Islamic Republic's late supreme leader is buried. The complex was attacked by Islamic State militants in 2017.