- Qasem Soleimani led Iran's Quds Force, the foreign operations wing of the elite paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
- The 62-year-old Soleimani was killed in a drone strike directed by Trump in early January.
People gather to protest the US air strike in Iraq that killed Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani, who headed Iran's Revolutionary Guards' elite Quds force in Sanaa, Yemen on January 6, 2020.Mohammed Hamoud | Andalou Agency | Getty Images
Iran's government has issued an arrest warrant for U.S. President Donald Trump over the killing of its top commander Qasem Soleimani in January, the country's semi-official Fars news agency reported Monday.
Tehran is also reportedly asking Interpol for help, according to Fars. Ali Alghasi-Mehr, the attorney general of Tehran, named Trump and 35 others Iran has accused of involvement in Soleimani's death as facing "murder and terrorism charges," and was quoted as saying he had asked Interpol to issue "red notices" for them — the highest level notice Interpol can issue on an individual to pursue their arrest.
Trump, however, is in no danger of arrest and it's highly unlikely Interpol would honor Iran's request, as the international agency's guidelines forbid it from "undertaking any intervention or activities of a political" nature.
Soleimani led Iran's Quds Force, the foreign operations wing of the elite paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Trump administration labeled him a terrorist, and Washington deemed him responsible for the deaths of hundreds of U.S. troops in Iraq.
The 62-year-old Soleimani was killed in a drone strike directed by Trump in early January while in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, in a move that sent regional tensions and oil prices soaring and triggered a retaliatory attack by Iran and its proxies on Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops.
The Trump administration has so far not responded to Iran's announcement.
Source: cnbc.com