A video game developer has been blasted as 'beyond disgusting' for an advert apparently exploiting the US assassination of a top Iranian commander.

The official Twitter account of strategy war game Conflict of Nations: World War 3 tweeted out: 'Iran starting World War 3?

'Simulate any #WWIII scenario you can think of in Conflict of Nations right now!'

The ad appears to be a reference to rising tensions between Iran and the US after an American drone strike killed Qassem Soleimani, Iran's most powerful general in Iraq, on the orders of Donald Trump.

The official Twitter account of strategy wargame Conflict of Nations: World War 3 tweeted out: 'Iran starting World War 3?'

The hashtag #WWIII was trending after the operation over concerns America and Iran would go to war.

But Twitter users were not impressed with the tweet, branding it insensitive and poorly-timed considering the bloody consequences a wider conflict would bring.

It triggered responses like 'This ad is beyond disgusting', 'War is not a joke. Nor a game. Shame' and 'This is in incredibly bad taste. You people are disgusting'.

Other tweets called it 'the dumbest marketing I had ever seen', while another added: 'I hope you're aware of how badly this is in poor taste'.

Conflict of Nations: World War 3 is a military-themed strategy game developed by Hamburg-based Dorado Games.

Dorado Games has been approached for a comment.

But Twitter users were not impressed with the tweet, branding it insensitive and poorly-timed considering the bloody consequences a wider conflict would bring

The website states: 'Conflict of Nations is a free-to-play browser-based strategy game, where modern global warfare is waged in real-time against dozens of other players, in campaigns spanning days or even weeks.

'You are in control of the armed forces of one of the leading nations of this world, responsible for its military expansion, economic development, technological research and foreign diplomacy.'

Funeral processions were held for the 62-year-old Soleimani (left), chief of the elite Quds Forces arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, as well Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, 66, (right) commander of a pro-Iran Iraqi militia in Baghdad on Saturday

US spy chiefs said it had carried out the killing on Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard's Quds Force, and claimed it acted to 'deter future Iranian attack plans'.

President Donald Trump has said that he ordered the killing of Soleimani not to start a war but to stop one. He said that Soleimani was plotting 'imminent and sinister' attacks against Americans.

'We took action last night to stop a war. We did not take action to start a war,' the president said in brief remarks at Mar-a-Lago on Friday.