Iranians woke up Friday morning to the shocking news of the targeted killing of major general Qassem Soleimani, commander of Iran’s elite Quds force, by the United States in Iraq.

The killing of one of Iran’s most powerful and feared men, who was the mastermind of Iran’s military presence and proxy wars across the Middle East, drew backlash from different political factions inside Iran and became a rallying cry against the United States.

Even reformists and moderates, who have been critical of the Revolutionary Guards’ hardline domestic and foreign policies, condemned the killing and sent out condolences for a commander who has been praised for fighting and defeating the Islamic State.

Former reformist President Mohammad Khatami, who has been banned from state media for his criticism of hardline policies, published a message on social media calling Soleimani a “martyr” killed by “occupying criminals”. Two prominent Grand Ayatollahs, Yousef Saanei and Asadollah Bayat-Zanjani, who have been vocal critics of the regime, also issued statements praising Soleimani’s fight against “religious fundamentalism” perpetrated by Isis.

Other prominent opposition figures including Ardeshir Amir Arjomand, a close advisor to Mir Hossein Mousavi who has been critical of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, published a statement praising Soleimani for defeating Isis, calling the killing an act of “terrorism” and in violation of international law and against peace and security in the region.

US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Show all 35 1 /35 US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures This photo released by the Iraqi Prime Minister Press Office shows a burning vehicle at the Baghdad International Airport following an airstrike in Baghdad, Iraq, early Friday 3 January AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures The wreckage of the car in which general Soleimani was travelling when a targeted US airstrike struck outside Baghdad International Airport on 3 January Ahmad Al Mukhtar via Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Demonstrators burn the US and British flags during a protest in Tehran after general Soleimani was killed in a targeted airstrike by American forces Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A burning vehicle at the Baghdad International Airport following an airstrike. The Pentagon said Thursday that the US military has killed general Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force, at the direction of Donald Trump AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Protesters burn Israeli and US flags as thousands of Iranians take to the streets to mourn the death of general Soleimani at the hands of America EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Supporters of Donald Trump pray at an 'Evangelicals for Trump' campaign event held on the day following the killing of general Soleimani. At the event, the president praised the "flawless strike that eliminated the terrorist ringleader" AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A huge procession of mourners gather in Baghdad for the funeral of general Soleimani on 4 January AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Thousands of Iranians take to the streets to mourn the death of Soleimani during an anti-US demonstration to condemn the killing of Soleimani, after Friday prayers in Tehran, Iran EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iraqis perform a mourning prayer for slain major general Qasem Soleimani of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards at the Great Mosque of Kufa AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A billboard reading 'Death to America and Israel', installed by Iran-backed shiite armed groups at a street in Jadriyah district in Baghdad, Iraq EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A handout picture provided by the office of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei shows him visiting the family of Soleiman KHAMENEI.IR/AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Thousands of Iranians take to the streets in Tehran EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Pakistani Shiite Muslims burn a mock of a US flag as they hold pictures of General Qasem Soleimani during a protest against the USA, outside the US Consulate in Lahore, Pakistan EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iran's Ambassador to Lebanon Mohammed Jalal Feiruznia, looks to a portrait of Soleimani, as he receives condolences at the Iranian embassy, in Beirut, Lebanon AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures People make their way on the street while a screen on the wall of a cinema shows a portrait Soleimani in Tehran AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Aziz Asmar, one of two Syrian painters who completed a mural following the killing of Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani poses next to his creation in the rebel-held Syrian town of Dana in the northwestern province of Idlib AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A demonstration in Tehran AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures An anti-US demonstration to condemn the killing of Soleimani, after Friday prayers in Tehran EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Mujtaba al-Husseini, the representative of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, delivers a speech in the holy shrine city of Najaf AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Pakistani Shiite Muslims burn a mock of a US and Israeli flags as they hold pictures of General Qasem Soleimani during a protest against the USA, outside the US Consulate in Lahore, Pakistan EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Protesters demonstrate in Tehran AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Pakistani Shi'ite Muslims hold pictures of General Qasem Soleimani during a protest against the USA, in Peshawar, Pakistan EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Protesters, holding a photograph of the leader of the People's Mujahedin of Iran Massoud Rajavi, outside Downing Street in London PA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Protesters burn a US flag in Tehran AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A Syrian man offers sweets to children to mark the killing AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranian worshippers attend a mourning prayer for Soleimani in Iran's capital Tehran AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Kashmiri Shiite Muslims shout anti American and anti Israel slogans during a protest AP US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranian worshipers chant slogans during Friday prayers Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures A protest against the USA, in Islamabad, Pakistan EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranians burn a US flag in Tehran EPA US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in Germany (NWRI) protest outside Iran's embassy in Berlin, Germany Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in Germany (NWRI) protest outside Iran's embassy in Berlin Reuters US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranian worshippers in Tehran AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Vehicles of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol a road in the southern Lebanese town of Kfar Kila near the border with Israel. Following morning's killing of Major General Qasem Soleimani, Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement called for the missile strike by Israel's closest ally, to be avenged AFP via Getty US airstrike kills Iran's Qassem Soleimani: Fallout in pictures Iranian women take to the streets in Tehran EPA

Even Parvaneh Salahshouri, a reformist member of parliament who has recently slammed the regime for its brutal crackdown of protests, came out in support of Soleimani and condemned the attack.

A senior reformist in Tehran, who did not want to be identified for security reasons, told The Independent that killing Soleimani is seen as the Trump administration’s second horrific act against Iranians, after the US president’s violation of the nuclear deal to which Iran was still committed. “They assassinated someone who was a symbol of national defence for many Iranians, and was probably the only senior commander who did not interfere in domestic politics.”

Activists warn that the killing will further harden the atmosphere inside Iran and pave the way for a more militaristic approach by hardliners. Tehran will see the attack as an act of war from the United States and its regional allies, and hardliners will utilise the external threat to solidify power and sideline their domestic critics. Moderates who have been pushing for engagement with the west will be weakened even more and potentially pushed out of power in the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections. Tehran will pursue an increasingly hardline policy both domestically and abroad, and prospects of any negotiation with the United States will diminish.

“Qassem Soleimani’s assassination is the beginning of an emergency situation for the Iranian state,” said Amin Bozorgian, an Iranian sociologist living in France. “We don’t know what they will do in the region, whether they will retaliate or not, but this will definitely lead to a more closed atmosphere inside Iran and strengthen the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps],” he told The Independent.

In light of an imminent foreign threat and the wartime atmosphere, hardliners will bring issues of stability and security front and centre in Iranian political discourse and with a much stronger justification, while any domestic opposition will be considered treasonous and harshly stifled.

Mr Bozorgian said the regime may not be able to retaliate against those who killed Soleimani, but will do so against its weaker and more accessible enemies. He told The Independent that in the final years of the Iran-Iraq war, Iran compensated for its weakness and loss by mass executions of political prisoners in the summer of 1988.

It is still not clear how Iran will respond to the killing of one of its most senior figures. The supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei has promised a harsh revenge, but did not provide any specifics as to when and against who.

Tehran will most likely wait and calculate a calibrated response that may not directly attack US forces but hurt America’s closest allies in the region.

Who was powerful Iranian general Qassem Soleimani?

“Some in Iran may want a quick response,” said Hamed Hadian, a journalist based in Tehran. However, a quick response could lead to a full-on war and so Iran will probably not do that, he told The Independent. “But the Middle East will not be safe for any American soldiers for years to come,” Mr Hadian added.