The US, the UK, Germany, Jordan, and three other nations have been identified by Tehran as being responsible for the murder of the Quds Force commander.
The Secretary of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights, Kazem Gharibabadi, revealed on 25 June that seven countries had participated in the assassination of Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani.
“People have been identified in the UK, the US, Germany, Jordan, and [three others],” Gharibabadi told Iranian media, adding that “everyone who participated in the assassination … should be tried.”
According to the Iranian official, his office has asked the foreign ministry to actively pursue the case with the relevant authorities in these seven countries.
“This file is being studied at three levels; the first in the Iraqi courts, the second in Iranian courts, and the third at the international level, as seven countries participated in this assassination. We reached an understanding with Iraq to form a joint investigation committee to expedite the decision on this file,” Gharibabadi went on to say.
Former US president Donald Trump ordered the assassination of Major General Soleimani along with the Deputy Commander of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, on 3 January, 2020, killing them both in a drone strike outside Baghdad International Airport.
On the second anniversary of the assassination back in January, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi vowed revenge unless Trump is tried for the murder.
“If Trump and [former Secretary of State Mike] Pompeo are not tried in a fair court for the criminal act of assassinating General Soleimani, Muslims will avenge our martyr,” Raisi announced.
On the same day, Gharibabadi revealed that the Islamic Republic identified at least 125 individuals as being responsible for Soleimani’s murder.
In April of this year, an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) official told media that Washington has repeatedly requested that Tehran abandon its plans to avenge Soleimani’s assassination.
“They constantly send messages saying they will offer rewards and remove certain sanctions if we give up seeking revenge for Soleimani,” the IRGC official said.
“But this is wishful thinking,” the official added. “The leader of the Islamic Revolution insists on taking revenge, and the IRGC commander has said that revenge is inevitable.”