Iran indicts 73 Americans in General Soleimani assassination case
3 Min Read
The Iranian judiciary notes that Iran is looking to bring to trial former US President Donald Trump for his part in the assassination.
-
IRGC Quds Force commander Gen. Qassem Soleimani, center, attends a meeting with Iranian leader Sayyed Ali Khamenei and IRGC commanders in Tehran, Iran, September 18, 2016. (AP)
Officially, Iran has issued indictments for 73 US citizens over their involvement in the assassination of former commander of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps' Quds Force Lieut. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, according to First Deputy of the Iranian Judiciary Mohammad Mosaddeq on Wednesday.
Mosaddeq added that the judiciary has identified as of now 97 implicated individuals, noting that Iran is looking to bring to trial former US President Donald Trump for his part in the assassination.
According to Mosaddeq, Iran has sent requests for cooperation to nine countries suspected of involvement in coordinating the assassination, and some have already responded.
Tehran has repeatedly assured the US and "Israel" that it will avenge Soleimani's murder and that it will keep them on their toes since they won't know when and where they will come under attack.
Read more: Soleimani, Muhandes, Mughniyeh prohibited US occupation: Nasrallah
Iran has also previously requested that Interpol issue a red notice for all those behind the assassination of Lieut. Gen. Soleimani, especially after Tehran identified the perpetrators in connection with the terror attack, including Trump, Pentagon officials, and American forces in the region.
During an address to the 77th annual session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York last September, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi raised a picture of Soleimani and called for punishing Trump, who ordered the assassination of Soleimani in a barbaric and illegal manner.
"The previous president of the United States [Trump] effectively managed to sign the document of the savage crime, an illegal crime, an immoral crime," he indicated.
Operation Retaliation
On January 3, 2020, the US carried out a drone strike authorized by former US President Donald Trump targeting a car carrying the commander of Al-Quds Force of the IRGC General Qassem Soleimani and his Iraqi trench-mate and the second-in-command of Iraqi PMU (Popular Mobilization Units), Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
The assassination led to an escalation of tensions between the United States and Iran, which pledged to avenge the martyrs. Martyr Soleimani was on an official visit to Iraq and was in a car with Martyr al-Muhandis at Baghdad's International Airport when they were assassinated by the US shortly after his arrival.
Days after his martyrdom, the anti-terror icon’s body was transferred to Iran and was laid to rest in his hometown of Kerman.
In retaliation, Tehran launched missiles at the Ain al-Assad base in Baghdad, one of the largest US bases in Iraq.
Iran in January identified 125 suspects and defendants in the assassination, explaining that "in addition to these suspects, there were other countries that had a role in the process."
"General Soleimani was not only a hero in the fight against terrorism and a security builder in the region but also a general and architect of peace, reconciliation, and brotherhood between Islamic nations," Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said.
