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The Associated Press

TEHRAN, Iran — The blowback over the U.S. killing of a top Iranian general mounted Sunday as Iran an-nounced it will no longer abide by the limits contained in the 2015 nuclear deal and Iraq’s Parliament called for the expulsion of all American troops from Iraqi soil.

The twin developments could bring Iran closer to building an atom-ic bomb and enable the Islamic State group to stage a comeback in Iraq, making the Middle East a far more dangerous and unstable place.

Iranian state television cited a statement by President Hassan Rou-hani’s administration saying the country would not observe limits on fuel enrichment, on the size of its en-riched uranium stockpile and on its research and development activities.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran no longer faces any limitations in oper-ations,” a state TV broadcaster said.

In Iraq, meanwhile, lawmakers voted in favor of a resolution calling for an end to the foreign military pres-ence in the country, including the es-timated 5,200 U.S. troops stationed to help battle Islamic State extremists. The bill is subject to approval by the Iraqi government but has the backing of the outgoing prime minister.

In yet another sign of rising ten-sions and threats of retaliation over the deadly airstrike, the U.S.-led mil-

itary coalition in Iraq said it is putting the battle against IS on hold to focus on protecting its own troops and bas-es.

The string of developments capped a day of mass mourning over Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, killed in a U.S. drone strike in Bagh-dad on Friday. Hundreds of thou-sands of people flooded the streets

in the cities of Ahvaz and Mashhad to walk alongside the casket of Solei-mani, who was the architect of Iran’s proxy wars across the Mideast and was blamed for the deaths of hun-dreds of Americans in suicide bomb-ings and other attacks.

Iran insisted that it remains open to negotiations with European partners over its nuclear program. And it did

not back off from earlier promises that it wouldn’t seek a nuclear weapon.

However, the announcement rep-resents the clearest nuclear prolifer-ation threat yet made by Iran since President Donald Trump unilateral-ly withdrew from the accord in 2018 and reimposed sanctions. It further raises regional tensions, as Iran’s longtime foe Israel has promised

never to allow Iran to produce an atomic bomb. Iran did not elaborate on what levels it would immediately reach in its program.

Meanwhile, the leader of Leba-non’s Hezbollah group said the U.S. military across the region “will pay the price” for killing the top Iranian general.

Hassan Nasrallah said that U.S. bases, warships and soldiers in the Middle East were all fair targets.

“The suicide attackers who forced the Americans to leave from our re-gion in the past are still here and their numbers have increased,” said Nas-rallah. 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 Presi-dent Ronald Reagan to withdraw all American forces from the country.

Iran ditches nuclear limits after U.S. killingResidents report blasts in Baghdad Green Zone

BAGHDAD — Residents of Iraq’s capital said three explo-sions rang out Sunday night inside the heavily-fortified Green Zone, home to the U.S. Embassy and the seat of Iraq’s govern-ment.

This was the second such at-tack in recent days. Alert sirens were sounded Sunday in the area on the west bank of the Tigris river. There was no immediate confirmation from authorities, but the explosions were believed to have been from mortars or rockets that struck the area.

Also, Iraq’s Parliament has called for the expulsion of all American troops from the country.

The Associated PressIn this photo provided by The Iranian Students News Agency,, flag-draped coffins of Gen. Qassem Soleimani and his comrades who were killed in Iraq in a U.S. drone strike are carried on a truck

surrounded by mourners during their funeral in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, Iran, Sunday. The body of Soleimani arrived Sunday in Iran to throngs of mourners.

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The U.S. military might strike more Iranian leaders if the Islamic Republic retaliates for the Trump administration’s killing of Tehran’s most powerful general last week by attacking Americans or American interests, Secre-tary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday.

As Pompeo conducted a round of TV interviews to explain President Donald Trump’s decision to target Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the repercussions from that attack played out: The Iraqi Parlia-ment called on the 5,200 U.S. forces in the country to leave; the U.S. military coalition in Baghdad suspended training of Iraqi forces to concentrate on defending coa-lition troops; and in Beirut, the Lebanese Hezbollah chief said U.S. forces throughout the Mideast are fair targets for retaliation.

Even a Trump ally, Sen. Lindsey Gra-ham, R-S.C., called the move by Iraqi law-makers “a bit concerning.’’

Trump continued issuing warnings to Iran by tweet. “These Media Posts will serve as notification to the United States Congress that should Iran strike any U.S. person or target, the United States will quickly & fully strike back, & perhaps in a

disproportionate manner,” he wrote Sun-day afternoon. “Such legal notice is not required, but is given nevertheless!”

Democrats in Congress complained about the administration’s failure to con-sult with legislative leaders before con-ducting the drone attack Friday against Soleimani, and the White House faced a barrage of questions about the killing’s legality. Pompeo said the administration would have been “culpa-bly negligent” in its duty to protect the United States if it had not killed Soleimani, although he did not provide evidence for his previous claims that Soleimani was plotting imminent attacks on Americans.

Instead of arguing that an attack had been imminent, Pompeo said it was in-evitable.

“We watched him continue to actively build out for what was going to be a sig-nificant attack – that’s what we believed – and we made the right decision,” he said, adding later: “We continue to prepare for whatever it is the Iranian regime may put in front of us within the next 10 minutes, within the next 10 days, and within the next 10 weeks.”

Congressional Democrats were skep-tical.

“I really worry that the actions the pres-ident took will get us into what he calls another endless war in the Middle East. He promised we wouldn’t have that,” said Chuck Schumer, of New York, the Senate’s top Democrat.

Schumer said Trump lacks the au-thority to engage militarily with Iran and Congress needs a new war powers reso-lution “to be a check on this president.” To which Pompeo said: “We have all the authority we need to do what we’ve done to date.”

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said the ad-ministration violated the Constitution by not consulting with Congress in advance.

“It’s also important because one, you potentially get members of Congress to buy in ahead of time, and two, they may ask that hard question that’s not asked in an insular group,” Warner said.

Congressional staffs got their first brief-ings from the administration on Friday, and members are expected to be briefed this week.

Pompeo appeared on six news shows while Trump kept silent on the final day of his holiday break in Florida. The ap-pearances by the top American diplo-mat appeared aimed at dissuading Iran from launching a major retaliation for the Soleimani killing. The Iranians have said the U.S. should expect a strong response.

Pompeo: U.S. might hit more Iranian leadersSecretary of state joins Trump in warning against retaliation.

Mike Pompeo

The Associated Press

LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the Iranian general killed in a U.S. drone strike in Iraq was “a threat to all our interests” and that “we will not lament his death.”

Johnson, who spoke with U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday, called for de-esca-lation from all sides.

“All calls for retaliation or reprisals will sim-ply lead to more violence in the region and

they are in no one’s interest,” the U.K. leader said.

It was the first statement from Johnson on soaring Mideast tensions since Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani was killed in Baghdad on Friday.

Prior to the statement, the British leader had been criticized for remaining silent on the issue and not cutting short his vacation on the private Caribbean island of Mustique during the escalating crisis. Johnson is now back in the U.K.

British leader urges de-escalation from all sides