ANKARA

The Turkish and Iranian foreign ministers spoke over the phone on Saturday, diplomatic sources said. 

Turkey's Mevlut Cavusoglu and Iran's Javad Zarif discussed the killing of senior Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad, the sources said on condition of anonymity. 

Soleimani's death marked a dramatic escalation in tensions between the U.S. and Iran, which have often been at a fever pitch since President Donald Trump chose in 2018 to unilaterally withdraw Washington from a 2015 nuclear pact world powers struck with Tehran.  

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who gave Soleimani the country's highest honor last year, vowed "severe retaliation" in response to his killing. 

Soleimani was the long-time commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force, which was designated a terror group by the U.S. The group is estimated to have 20,000 members.   

*Writing by Sena Guler