The United States killed Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani, head of the elite Quds Force and architect of Iran's spreading military influence in the Middle East, in an air strike on Friday at Baghdad airport, the Pentagon and Iran said.
Top Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, an adviser to Soleimani, was also killed in the attack that was authorized by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Soleimani's killing marks a dramatic escalation in the regional "shadow war" between Iran and the United States and its allies, principally Israel and Saudi Arabia, which could quickly ratchet up tit-for-tat attacks.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed harsh revenge.
Iran has been locked in a long conflict with the United States that escalated sharply last week with an attack on the U.S. embassy in Iraq by pro-Iranian militiamen following a U.S. air raid on the Kataib Hezbollah militia, founded by Muhandis.
"At the direction of the president, the U.S. military has taken decisive defensive action to protect U.S. personnel abroad by killing Qassem Soleimani," the Pentagon said in a statement.
"This strike was aimed at deterring future Iranian attack plans," it added.
U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that Soleimani had been killed in a drone strike. Iran's Revolutionary Guards said he was killed in an attack by American helicopters.
Pictures showed burning debris on a road near the airport.
Oil prices were up nearly $3 on the news.
Khamenei said harsh revenge awaited the "criminals" who killed Soleimani and his death, though bitter, would double the motivation of the resistance against the United States and Israel.
"All enemies should know that the jihad of resistance will continue with a doubled motivation, and a definite victory awaits the fighters in the holy war," Khamenei said in a statement carried by state television, in which he called for three days of national mourning.
But it could be difficult for Iran to plan and carry out the kind of sophisticated attacks that Soleimani was accused of masterminding during his over 20 years of projecting the Islamic Republic's military influence across the Middle East.
State television presenters wore black and broadcast footage of Soleimani peering through binoculars across a desert and greeting a soldier, and of Muhandis speaking to followers.
President Hassan Rouhani said the assassination would make Iran more decisive in its resistance to the United States while Iran's Revolutionary Guards said anti-U.S. forces would exact revenge across the Muslim world.
Ahmed al-Assadi, a spokesman for Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), the umbrella grouping of Iran-backed militias, blamed the United States and Israel for the killing of Soleimani and Muhandis.
Iraqi paramilitary groups said three rockets hit Baghdad International Airport, killing five members of Iraqi paramilitary groups and two "guests".
The rockets landed near the air cargo terminal, burning two vehicles, killing and injuring several people.
Local militia commander Abu Muntathar al-Hussaini told Reuters the two leaders were in a vehicle struck by two missiles as they were on their way out of the airport from its arrivals hall. The second vehicle, carrying bodyguards from the PMF, was hit by one rocket, he said.
"The American criminals had detailed information on the convoy's movements," Hussaini said.
Trump, who is facing impeachment charges, made no immediate comment but posted a picture of the U.S. flag on Twitter.
In Israel, the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - which has long regarded Soleimani as a major threat - gave no immediate response to his death but Israel Army Radio said the military had gone on heightened alert.
Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who portrays himself a nationalist rejecting both Iranian and U.S. influence, ordered his followers to be ready to defend Iraq and urged all sides to behave wisely.
The Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad condemned was it called criminal U.S. aggression.
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