Iran vows revenge for killing Soleiman if Trump does not prosecute Reuters

DUBAI (Reuters) – Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, on the second anniversary of the US assassination of General Qassem Soleimani, has said that former US President Donald Trump should stand trial for the assassination or that Tehran will take revenge.

Teams allied with Iran and Iraq and other countries have held events to pay tribute to Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force, a foreign army of elite Revolutionaries. He was killed in a drone attack in Iraq on January 3, 2020, at the behest of then-President Trump.

“If Trump and (former Secretary of State Mike) Pompeo are not tried in a court of law for the criminal act of killing General Soleimani, Muslims will take revenge on our martyrdom,” Raisi said in a speech on Monday.

“The assailant, the killer and the main culprit – then the president of the United States – must be tried and tried under the (Islamic) law of retribution, and God’s judgment must be carried out against him,” Raisi added.

Under Iranian Islamic law, a convicted murderer can be executed if the victim’s family does not agree to take “blood money” through a reconciliation.

Iranian judicial officials have contacted authorities in nine countries after identifying 127 suspects in the case, including 74 U.S. citizens, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, the chief prosecutor, told state television.

“Former criminal president (Trump) is at the top of the list,” he said.

On Sunday, Iran wrote to the United Nations Security Council in a letter to the United States and Israel, claiming that Tehran was also involved in the killings, to hold the Iranian media accountable.

A few days after the assassination, the United States told the United Nations that the murder was self-defense. U.S. Attorney General William Barr said Trump clearly had the power to kill Soleiman and that the general was a “legitimate military target.”

Hundreds of supporters of Iran-backed militia groups gathered at Baghdad International Airport on Sunday to celebrate the anniversary of Soleimani’s death and chant slogans against the Americans.

Two armed drones were fired on Monday as they approached an Iraqi military base near Baghdad International Airport, Iraqi security sources said.

On Sunday night, the Houthi movement, which is lined up in Yemen’s Iran, seized a U.S.-flagged cargo ship and said it was engaged in “enemy actions,” but that the Saudis were carrying hospital equipment.

In Israel on Monday, the Jerusalem Post reported that its website had been hacked when it was deemed an apparent threat to the country, with an illustration reminiscent of Soleiman.