TEHRAN - Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for International and Legal Affairs Mohsen Baharvand has said that Iran will pursue assassination of Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani by the United States in international bodies.

“Diplomatic complaints have been filed through sending letters to the [UN] Security Council and UN Secretary-General [Antonio Guterres]. We are pursuing the case and completing our investigation in the Foreign Ministry. After that, international actions will be taken,” Baharvand told the IRIB in an interview published on Thursday.

Judicial investigations must be accurate and without any time limitation, he suggested.

On January 3, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered airstrikes that martyred General Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), in Baghdad’s international airport.

Soleimani was recognized internationally as a legendary commander in the war against terrorist groups, especially Daesh (ISIS). Only Daesh celebrated Soleimani’s assassination.

Iranian Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaeili announced a CIA spy who was gathering intelligence about Soleimani has been sentenced to death. 

“Recently, a person named Seyed Mahmoud Mousavi-Majd, who had connections with Mossad and CIA and provided them with intelligence on security issues such as the Guards Quds Force and the location of martyr Qassem Soleimani in exchange for U.S. dollars was sentenced to death by the Revolution Court, and the verdict has been confirmed by the Supreme Court and will be implemented soon,” Esmaeili announced during a press conference on Tuesday.

Esmaeili said during a press conference in January that Iran will file lawsuits against Trump and the U.S. government for the assassination of Soleimani.

“We intend to file lawsuits in the Islamic Republic, Iraq and The Hague Court (International Court of Justice) against the military and government of America and against Trump,” he said.

NA/PA