Iraq’s top Shi’ite Muslim cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, condemns the US-Iranian military confrontation taking place on Iraqi soil, saying it risked plunging the war-ravaged country and the wider Middle East into deeper conflict.

Iran says it launched a missile attack on US-led forces in Iraq in the early hours of Wednesday in retaliation for the US drone strike on an Iranian commander whose killing has raised fears of a wider war in the Middle East.

At least 56 people are killed in a stampede in Iran as tens of thousands of mourners pack streets for the funeral of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani whose killing has plunged the Middle East into a new crisis and sparked fears of a wider war.

Hundreds of thousands of Iranians throng Tehran's streets for the funeral of military commander Qassem Soleimani, killed by a US drone strike, and his successor promises to drive US forces out of the region in revenge.

Oil prices rise over 1% on Monday, pushing Brent above $70 a barrel, as rhetoric from the United States, Iran and Iraq fanned tensions in the Middle East after a US air strike which killed a top Iranian military commander.

Iran condemns Donald Trump as a “terrorist in a suit” after the US president threatened to hit 52 Iranian sites hard if Tehran attacks Americans or US assets in retaliation for the killing of military commander Qassem Soleimani.