TEHRAN – Tehran Prosecutor General Ali Alqasi-Mehr said on Wednesday that Iran has picked 6 countries to represent its legal stance with regard to the January 3 assassination of its top anti-terror general, Qassem Soleimani, by the U.S. government.

Alqasi-Mehr said Iran has picked Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Qatar, Jordan, and Kuwait to represent it through international legal channels to pursue the case, ISNA reported.

On January 3, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered strikes that martyred General Soleimani, chief of the IRGC Quds Force, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU).

In the early hours of January 8, the IRGC attacked Ain al-Assad airbase in Anbar province in western Iraq as part of its promised “tough revenge” for the U.S. terror attack. Iran notified the Iraqi government beforehand so as to avoid casualties.

Alqasi-Mehr also referred to the role of Germany in the assassination process, saying the American airbase in Germany was in charge of directing the drone attack.

The base provided information and flight data to the American forces, he said, adding that the identification of those people is also on the agenda.

Earlier this month, the head of the Iranian Judiciary's High Council for Human Rights asked Germany to cooperate with Iran regarding the perpetrators and accomplices in the assassination.

Pointing to reports that the U.S. base in Germany was part of the operation that led to Soleimani’s assassination, Ali Bagheri-Kani urged Berlin to cooperate with Iran’s Judiciary in order to help clear up the ambiguities around the case.

In June, Alqasi-Mehr said 36 individuals were identified in connection with the Soleimani assassination.

“36 individuals who cooperated, collaborated, and participated in the assassination of Hajj Qassem, including political and military authorities of the U.S. and other countries, have been identified,” he said.

Just a few days ago the Judiciary announced that three new names have been added to the number of individuals responsible for the terrorist act.

Alqasi-Mehr named Trump as the key individual at the top of the list, saying his pursuit will continue even after his tenure as U.S. president.

‘Trump is chief criminal in the assassination case’ 

Iran’s top judge Ebrahim Raisi said on Wednesday that Trump is the “chief criminal” in the assassination case of General Soleimani who has acknowledged his crime before the people in the world.

Raisi said Trump is by no means immune to face punishment for the assassination. 

The Judiciary chief also said nothing should deter efforts to hold U.S. officials “accountable” for the crime.

A former United Nations official and professor of international law has said the assassination of Iran’s top general was an “act of war”, deploring the UN Security Council’s failure to slam the U.S. killing of the commander.

“Of great concern is the failure of the United Nations, especially the Security Council, to condemn the event. The UN Special Rapporteur for Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions, Agnes Callamard, did issue a report on July 6, 2020, that concluded that the targeted killing of such a prominent military leader as General Soleimani was not only a violation of international human rights law but ‘an act of war’ that violated Article 2(4) of the UN Charter,” Professor Richard A. Falk said in an interview with Tasnim published on Wednesday.

MH/PA