U.S. and Iran Exchange More Threats as Democrats Question Timing of Strike

“Yeah, well, the French are just wrong about that,” Mr. Pompeo said. “The world is a much safer place today. And I can assure you Americans in the region are much safer today after the demise of Qassim Suleimani.”

A top Chinese Communist Party official, Yang Jiechi, told Mr. Pompeo in a telephone call that China, Iran’s most powerful partner, was “highly concerned” about the situation in the Middle East and that “differences should be resolved through dialogue,” Zhao Lijian, a Foreign Ministry official, tweeted.

Presidents Emmanuel Macron of France and Vladimir V. Putin of Russia spoke by telephone and agreed to try to “prevent a new and dangerous escalation of tensions,” according to a summary issued by Mr. Macron’s office. The French president also stressed the fight against the Islamic State should be a priority, as well as efforts to get Iran to return to compliance on the 2015 nuclear agreement, from which Mr. Trump withdrew but that Russia, China and three European nations still support.

The decision to hit General Suleimani complicates relations with Iraq’s government, which has tried to balance itself between the United States and Iran.

A senior Iraqi official said Friday that there was a good chance the Iraqi Parliament would vote to force American troops to leave the country. Top Iraqi leaders earlier had wanted to accommodate the troop presence because of the persistent threat from the Islamic State and other regional security matters.

On Friday afternoon, the State Department announced it was designating a prominent Iraqi militia supported by Iran as a foreign terrorist organization, in what appeared to be a policy extension of the strike on Mr. Suleimani. The move paved the way for harder American actions against the militia, Aas’ib Ahl al-Haq.

The State Department also designated the leaders of the militia, the brothers Qais al-Khazali and Laith al-Khazali, as global terrorists. The group received training and financing from the Quds Force, the elite unit led by Mr. Suleimani, the department said.