"NATO's mission is continuing, but training activities are currently suspended," said the spokesperson for the alliance, Dylan White.

He also added that NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg had spoken by telephone with US Secretary of Defence Mark Esper on recent developments.

The announcement came after the killing of Qasem Soleimani, commander of Quds Force, in a US airstrike in Baghdad on January 3.

The NATO Training Mission-Iraq was established in 2004 at the request of the Iraqi Interim Government under the provisions of UN Security Council Resolution 1546. The aim of NTM-I allegedly was to assist in the development of Iraqi security forces training structures and institutions so that Iraq could build an effective and sustainable capability that addressed the needs of the nation. NTM-I was not a combat mission but was a distinct mission, under the political control of NATO's North Atlantic Council.

ILKHA