TEHRAN – Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami in a note on the first martyrdom anniversary of Lt. Gen. Qassem Soleimani wrote that the anti-terror commander was a hero who disrupted all U.S. calculations in the region.

“A year has passed since the martyrdom of Hajj Qassem Soleimani, the field commander of the fight against terrorism,” Brigadier General Hatami said on Saturday.

He said Soleimani was the commander who aborted all U.S. calculations in the region and that was why U.S. President Donald Trump ordered his assassination.

“The fact is that Daesh (ISIS) was not supposed to be eliminated in the region because the Americans had brought these terrorists to remain for years to come and occupy and influence other countries as well,” he explained.

But Martyr Soleimani and other courageous resistance leaders realized the global arrogance’s plots and thwarted them.

On January 3, 2020, Trump ordered drone strikes that martyred General Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU).

Five days later, Iran’s IRGC attacked Ain al-Assad airbase in western Iraq, where U.S. forces were stationed, as part of its promised “tough revenge” for the U.S. terror attack.

Iran has also vowed to spare no efforts in bringing the assassins of General Soleimani, especially Trump, to justice.

“Iran, while fully adhering to the applicable provisions of international law, will spare no legal and legitimate effort in order to bring the perpetrators and accomplices of Martyr General Soleimani to justice, so that they suffer legal punishment for their action,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said last in November.

Last month, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the special aide to the speaker of the Iranian Parliament on international affairs, said the list of individuals involved in the assassination has been updated from 45 to 48.

Iran’s Judiciary has added new names to the list of individuals involved in the January assassination, Amir-Abdollahian said, adding that the Judiciary has stepped up efforts to prosecute the individuals who ordered and perpetrated the criminal act.

He also said that six countries have been given warrants from Iran’s Judiciary so far for the arrest of the culprits.

MH/PA