PARIS (AP) — Global powers warned Friday that the world became a more dangerous place after the U.S. assassinated Iran's top general, urging restraint on all sides. Britain and Germany also suggested that Iran shared some blame for provoking the targeted killing that dramatically ratcheted up tensions in the Mideast.

China, Russia and France, all permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, took a dim view of the U.S. airstrike near Baghdad's airport early Friday that killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani and several of his associates. The 62-year-old ledIran's elite Quds Force, responsible for the country's foreign campaigns.

The White House justified the strike with a tweet alleging that Soleimani "was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region."

Oil prices surged on news of the killing, reflecting investor jitters about Mideast stability, and there were immediate threats of vengeance from Iran. Social media flooded with alarm, with Twitter users morbidly turning "WWIII" into the top trending term worldwide.

"We are waking up in a more dangerous world. Military escalation is always dangerous," France's deputy minister for foreign affairs, Amelie de Montchalin, told RTL radio. "When such actions, such operations, take place, we see that escalation is underway."