New York police on high alert after Iranian commander Soleimani's killing: Mayor

Security officials in New York are on high alert after the United States killed top Iranian military commander in a drone strike in Baghdad. New York City Mayor, Bill de Blasio confirmed the news and said that the threat level has risen significantly as it is coming from a resourceful state like Iran and not from non-state organisations like ISIS or al Qaeda. The Mayor said that the US' action puts them in a de facto state of war with Iran. 

New York ready for any retaliation

Bill de Blasio along with police commissioner Dermot Shea, deputy commissioner John Miller held a press conference on January 3 after United States' airstrike in Baghdad. Mayor Blasio in the press conference said, "None of us knows how this will play out. It will likely take weeks and months, maybe even years before we see where all of this goes. But we have never confronted in recent decades the reality of a war with a government of a large country with an international terror network at its behest."

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"In the meantime New Yorkers should do what we always do in the face of adversity. Just continue to go about our lives unafraid, aware always, realistic, tough – New Yorkers are the most worldly, wise people there are. So the fact that we face a new threat cannot and should not change peoples' lives. ," the mayor added. 

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Police commissioner Dermot Shea urged people of New York to stay vigilant and aware and added that they might see more uniformed officers with long guns at sensitive areas in the city. Shea said that the NYPD will continue to detect threats with Counter-Terrorism and Intelligence Bureaus, Joint Terrorism Task Force and State local and federal partners.

Read: WATCH: US Drone Strike Killing Iran's Maj. General Soleimani & Convoy Video Released

The United States on Thursday killed Iranian military commander General Qasem Soleimani in a drone strike near Baghdad International Airport. Soleimani was responsible for Iran's growing military expansion in the region and the Washington believes that he was behind several attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria. Soleimani's influence in the region spread through Lebanon to Yemen and he directly reported to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.

Read: MEA Urges 'restraint & Calm' Over Assassination Of Iran's Top Commander Soleimani By US