Thousands of Iranians attend anti-US protests during Friday prayers

Iranians are rallying against the US after an airstrike in Baghdad took out the popular leader of Iran's elite Quds Force.

Iran media reported that hundreds of thousands of people used Friday prayers to stage demonstrations across the country in which they chanted slogans such as "Death to America" and "Revenge, revenge."

Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami told the faithful at Friday prayers in Tehran that there would be consequences for the US killing of General Qassem Soleimani.

"I announce that Americans will not find peace anywhere in the world. Today, the resistance movement in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon want to take Soleimani's revenge and now, with God's grace, it is time to end the presence of these harmful beasts in the region," the Mehr news agency quoted him saying.

President Hassan Ruhani, along with ministers and military officials, were expected to attend a crisis meeting of Iran's National Security Council on Friday. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has threatened the United States with "harsh retaliation."