Iran has asked the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) to issue a “red warning” for the arrest of President Trump
Donald Trump’s lawyer says the counting of the census to determine seats in Congress will not be done until February. Trump final for Georgia’s second round dominated by personal complaints. Trump at Georgia rally says he expects Pence to “show up for us” MORE and 47 other American officials on Tuesday due to the assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani last year.
Iranian judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili labeled Trump as “the main culprit” for the murder of Soleimani, which he called a “terrorist crime”, the semi-official news agency Mehr reported, according to NPR. Other US officers included in the order are US military commanders and officers in the region and at the Pentagon.
The request represented the second time Iran had asked for help to arrest the president.
“The request to issue the ‘Red Warning’ to 48 people involved in the assassination of martyr Soleimani, including the US president, as well as Pentagon commanders and officers and forces in the region, was delivered to Interpol,” said Esmaili during a briefing.
Interpol’s notices call on security agencies around the world to assist in locating and arresting fugitives being prosecuted or wanted for prison sentences.
But Interpol’s General Secretariat told NPR that the constitution of the police association says “the Organization is strictly prohibited from carrying out any political, military, religious or racial intervention or activities”.
Trump and other government officials said the U.S. targeted Soleimani in an attack in January 2020 that ended up killing the general. The president said that Soleimani was “planning imminent and sinister attacks” against the US
A United Nations investigator later concluded that the US attack “was illegal and arbitrary under international law”.
Iran vowed revenge for the general’s death and, days later, the country launched a rocket attack on an Iraqi air base that housed American forces, causing traumatic brain injuries to more than 100 American military personnel. The country first requested Trump’s arrest in June.
On the one-year anniversary of Soleimani’s death, Iran’s chief justice, Ebrahim Raisi, said: “Trump will have to reciprocate, whatever his position,” reported the NPR, citing the conservative Iranian newspaper Kayhan.
“Whether he heads the United States government or not, Trump must face retribution for the atrocity he committed,” he said.