TEHRAN – Iranian government announces vital step against US PresidentDonald Trump over General Soleimani assassination.
The Iranian government will seek to prosecute US President Donald Trump forthe assassination of Maj. Gen. Soleimani, Iranian Chief Justice EbrahimRaisi has said.
“We should collar the American president as the first defendant. He shouldbe prosecuted and taken to court in front of the world,” Raisi saidlink Monday during a meetingof judiciary officials, his remarks cited by the Fars News Agency.
“In our view, because the Martyr Soleimani was a symbol of combatingterrorism and supporting the oppressed, his assassination violates everylaw,” Raisi added.
The senior judicial figure called on legal scholars to “shout theirprotest,” and warned that if Iran does not pursue justice for thecommission of “such a horrific crime” against its general, “we will not beable to follow up any others.”
Iran’s Human Rights Committee and Foreign Ministry are expected to file aformal complaint to international organizations on Trump’s potentialprosecution at a later date, according to Raisi.
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Raisi also clarified that Iran plans to pursue the case against Trumpwhether it occurs during his term in office or after the end of hispresidency.
Soleimani, 62, was killed in Baghdad on January 3 when the convoy he and asenior Iraqi Shia militia leader were riding in was struck by a US Reaperdrone.
Last week, Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi revealed that Soleimaniwas in the Iraqi capital on a peace mission brokered by Baghdadlinktotry to reduce tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
During the more than two decades that he served as commander of the IRGC’sQuds Force, Soleimani coordinated multiple Iranian anti-terrorist operationslinkacrossthe Middle East, targeting Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda* in Afghanistan in2001 and joining the Syrian and Iraqi governments in the fight againstDaesh (ISIS)* between 2014 and 2017.
