TEHRAN: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi vowed revenge against former United States (US) President Donald Trump must face justice for his role in the assassination of top general Qassem Soleimani two years ago, or else Iran will have revenge.
“The aggressor and the main assassin, the then president of the United States, must face justice and retribution,” Raisi said while speaking on the second anniversary of the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani by the United States.
Raisi was addressing thousands at Tehran’s biggest prayer hall, at Iran’s main event to mark Soleimani’s death anniversary during a week of commemorations. Participants held national flags and portraits of the slain commander, state TV showed.
The Iranian president said, “It would be ok if the trial of Trump, (former secretary of State Mike) Pompeo and other criminals was held in a fair court where their horrible crimes were addressed and they faced justice for their actions.”
“Otherwise, I will tell all US leaders that without a doubt the hand of revenge will emerge from the sleeve of the Muslim nation,” he added. Raisi called Soleimani a symbol of the Iranian revolution and of “bravery and rationality”.
Iran’s foreign ministry said in a Twitter post on Friday that “the current US government bears definitive international responsibility for this crime”.
Undoubtedly, the criminal act of the United States in martyring general #Soleimani is a clear manifestation of a “terrorist attack” that was orchestrated and carried out in an organized manner by the then US government for which the White House is now responsible. pic.twitter.com/iVapUnNpMf
— Iran Foreign Ministry ???????? (@IRIMFA_EN) December 31, 2021
Soleimani, former commander of the Quds’ force, the foreign operations’ arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, was killed along with his Iraqi lieutenant Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, in a US drone strike near Bagdad’s airport on January 3, 2020.
At the time, Iran promised “harsh revenge” and days later fired more than a dozen missiles at two US bases in Iraq that caused no casualties. The country later set the complete withdrawal of American military forces from the region as its ultimate goal as it pledged revenge for the killing.
Trump said at the time he had ordered the drone strike in response to a number of attacks on US interests in Iraq, and with more expected.
