Global calls for 'de-escalation' after top Iranian killed

The death of Iran's Major General Qassem Soleimani in a U.S. air strike is reverberating around the world.

Both American allies and rivals alike - including some permanent members of the U.N. Security Council - are warning of a "dangerous escalation" in a volatile region.

A French government minister says the assassination at Baghdad International Airport was "what we feared: tensions between the United States and Iran are increasing," and warning that it has consequences for nuclear proliferation.

A Chinese government spokesperson called on all parties, "especially the United States, to remain calm and exercise restraint."

And a spokeswoman for the German government said the U.S. strike was a reaction to Iranian military provocations, and said it was now "crucial to contribute to a de-escalation," and that "conflicts can only be solved in a diplomatic way."

Qassem Soleimani was the commander of the Quds Force, an elite unit within Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

And in the United States, where he is blamed for orchestrating or influencing attacks that have killed American soldiers, the fallout is coming swift.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in an interview "the President's decision to remove Soleimani from the battlefield saved American lives."

Republican allies of the president such as former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley applauded the action, and called it "the strong and right thing."

No U.S. Democratic leaders or presidential candidates are shedding tears for Soleimani either, but they are warning against reckless and unauthorized military action.

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi decried targeting an Iranian government official without seeking Congressional approval.

Candidate Joe Biden wrote, "Trump just tossed a stick of dynamite into a tinderbox."

For those living in the potential tinderbox, the tensions were clear.

In Israel - Iran's top regional rival - placed its armed forces on high alert.

In Gaza City, the Iranian-supported Islamist militant group Hamas called the assassination a crime by the United States.

In Beirut, the leader of Hezbollah issued a declaring calling Soleimani a martyr, and calling for the "just punishment of the criminals who killed him."

And in the streets of Baghdad, not far from the airport where Soleimani met his end, jubilation by some, apprehension and concern by others that Iraq could be caught in the crossfire between America and Iran.