Iran has issued an arrest warrant for President Trump, and 35 other US officials believed to be responsible for carrying out the January 3rd drone strike that killed top Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Announcing the warrant on Monday, Iranian prosecutor Ali Qasi Mehir said the individuals have been charged with “murder and terrorist acts.” President Trump is the only official mentioned by name so far.
Iran is seeking the help of Interpol and called for the France-based organization to put out a “red notice” on Trump and the other officials. A red notice is a request for law enforcement officials worldwide to locate and arrest an individual.
In a statement to CNN, Interpol said it “would not consider requests of this nature.” The organization explained the request violates its rules that say Interpol cannot “undertake any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character.”
US envoy for Iran Brian Hook responded to the arrest warrants and called the move a “propaganda stunt” at a press conference in Saudi Arabia on Monday. “This has nothing to do with national security, international peace or promoting stability, so we see it for what it is — it’s a propaganda stunt that no one takes seriously and makes the Iranians look foolish,” Hook said.
While Hook denounces Iran’s move as a “stunt” that makes the country look “foolish,” it is less extreme than something the US did to another world leader earlier this year. In March, the Trump administration unsealed an indictment on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and other Venezuelan officials, accusing them of “narco-terrorism.” Along with the indictment, the US placed a $15 million bounty on Maduro’s head. The US took unilateral action against Maduro, as opposed to Iran requesting Trump’s arrest through Interpol, an action taken within the framework of international law.
Besides killing Soleimani, who was the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps at the time of his assassination, the January 3rd drone strike also killed Abu Mahdi Al-Mohandes, commander of the Popular Mobilization Units and eight other military officials.
The US initially justified the assassination by saying it was carried out to prevent an “imminent attack” on US personnel in Iraq. That justification quickly shifted. The Trump administration later claimed the strike was a response to an “escalating series of attacks” on US forces by Iran and Iran-backed militias in Iraq. The administration never offered evidence to link any attacks to Iran. Iraqi intelligence said the rocket attack that killed a US contractor in December 2019 that set off the series of events leading to the assassination of Soleimani could have been done by ISIS.
They should follow up with $25 million bounty on Trump’s head…!
Trump’s $15 mil bounty on Maduro was bad enough, lets not make bounties a diplomatic norm…
Thanks Dave, nice balanced article ! ….Dave deserves to replace Jason…!
Good. The first of many warrants for Trump and friends, if justice were done.
Likely though we’ll just let him off, like we did Dubya and his war crimes like aggression and torture, and all the bankster crimes that wrecked our economy in 2008.
Don’t forget all of Obama’s wars…not that I disagree with any you have noted.
The assassination of Solemani and al Muhandis was immoral and unethical, but also extralegal – except as violations of Iraqi law as common murder.
Neither the U.S. or Iran should be playing proxy war in Iraq; Soleimani and al Muhandis were as fair game as U.S. troops under that scenario.
However, Iraq should be making the arrest warrants because the murders happened under Iraqi protection and exclusive jurisdiction.
Iran is in effect infringing on Iraqi sovereignty once again. They can demand Iraq lay charges, but laying them themselves, seems outside Iranian legal jurisdiction.
Iran should sweeten the pot. Offer to leave Syria. No longer support Hezbollah. Recognize Israel completely and even give up its ballistic missile program. In exchange they get Trump with the promise they will waterboard him but only 183 times. If he survives, we get Trump back with a completely defanged Iran. And then the Don can actually say that torture works.
To those who think its nothing more than a stunt…………Iran has an absolute right to arrest Trump..Trump threatened to murder the PM of Iraq, ordered the Marines to murder protesters and ordered the murder of Soleimani while he was on a peace mission. Crimes don’t get worse than this and why Abdul Mahdi resigned. Arrest Trump and present him to the Hague.
This is what led to the US Attacks on Iraqi Military and PMU Hundreds of Miles from the “Incident” at K1 base. The attack Trump claims to be retaliating against was against an Iraqi base, not an American base, an attack by ISIS where an American oil worker was killed on an Exxon oil facility…where oil has been stolen from Iraq for years. This is Trump escalating the situation in Iraq as he threatened to do.
The base which was attacked housed not just Iraqi regulars but PMF units, who were also attacked, the same units Trump says staged the attack. The attack was using a Romanian built 122mm rocket, that was supplied to ISIS by the US. The BBC admits that the K1 base housed PMF militias who were there to protect K1 from ISIS. Trump used his ISIS proxies to escalate by attacking K1. Trump then bombed PMU forces in northern Iraq who were actually fighting ISIS which then led to the US embassy being attacked, Trump then escalated further by murdering General Qassem Soleimani in the most despicable way possible
Here is the address by Abdul Mahdi………………..“This is why I visited China and signed an important agreement with them to undertake the construction instead. Upon my return, Trump called me to ask me to reject this agreement. When I refused, he threatened to unleash huge demonstrations against me that would end my premiership.
Huge demonstrations against me duly materialized and Trump called again to threaten that if I did not comply with his demands, then he would have Marine snipers on tall buildings target protesters and security personnel alike in order to pressure me.
I refused again and handed in my resignation. After this, when our Minister of Defense publicly stated that a third party was targeting both protesters and security personnel alike (just as Trump had threatened, he would do), I received a new call from Trump threatening to (discuss banned word) both me and the Minister of Defense if we kept on talking about this “third party”.
I was supposed to meet him (Soleimani) later in the morning when he was killed. He came to deliver a message from Iran in response to the message we had delivered to the Iranians from the Saudis.
The Kingdom’s statement regarding the events in Iraq stresses the Kingdom’s view of the importance of de-escalation to save the countries of the region and their people from the risks of any escalation.
The kingdom of Saudi Arabia was not consulted regarding the US strike. In light of the rapid developments, the Kingdom stresses the importance of exercising restraint to guard against all acts that may lead to escalation, with severe consequences.
Saudi Arabia is sending a delegation to Washington to urge restraint with Iran on behalf of [Persian] Gulf states. The message will be: ‘Please spare us the pain of going through another war’.”
Iraqi sovereignty cannot be forgotten here… they have first right to demand arrests, and for Iran to make such demands of Iraq.
Iraq surrendered their sovereignty a long time ago. While others die for their freedom, Iraqi’s sell out to the almighty dollar.
Iraq sold out to both sides. If Iran really wanted the U.S. out of Iraq, they would pressure the Shia Iraqi government to deliver formal written notice to the U.S. to leave. They will not do that.
The U.S. wants to remain in Iraq and eventually outlast indigenous resistance, integrating Iraq into a globalist imperialist network they mistake for an American Empire. Europe’s financial oligarchy dominates the shadows of the Deep State, though, and who owns the money owns everything.
The Iranian Theocracy wants the boogeyman right next door, so they can harass the U.S. and justify their regime in the eyes of the Iranian people.
The Theocracy is really that dumb. General Solemani met the fate of that other great Iranian general, Surena, foe of Rome and victim of a jealous Parthan King. The Iranian royal court replaced their Royal family with jumped-up Islamic clerics, but its short-sightedly bloody politics as usual there.
Why not also issue arrest warrants for Dubya, Obama, Hillary, Slick Willy for their war crimes in Iraq, Libya, Syria, Ukraine, and the Balkans?
No reason not to, they are all guilty of crimes against humanity.
While I certainly do not object to such a charge, or their goals, I wonder when Afghanistan and Iraq will issue arrest warrants for Bush, Cheney, and their henchmen/women, the Balkan states for Slick Willie, Libya for Obama and Hillary, and countless other more than justifiable indictments?
The Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission in Malaysia found the W. Bush regime guilty of war crimes, but has no powers to demand arrests or other form or punishment or restitution. The case may have been punted to the ICC.
https://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2012/05/12/bush-convicted-of-war-crimes-in-absentia/
And exhume the other murdering bastard presidents and prop them up before a judge.
But in a sad, twisted sort of way, this Brian Hook guy is right. It is just a stunt when Iran does this sort of thing simply because it carries no weight. But when the US government wants to arrest Maduro, it might actually happen because our government is a global hegemony. Thus is the state of 21st Century US foreign policy.
The killing of Qassem Soleimani was nothing short of outright murder. Trump is a disgusting and despicable human in every way, and he is a murderer. Obviously, Iran does not expect Trump to be arrested, but their effort is a nice gesture. I hope that he is arrested at some stage, and locked away for a very long time.
book ’em all, Danno!
Actually, Iraq should have been making the arrests, but then, Iraq hasn’t even given the U.S. formal written notice to leave Iraq, either.
The proxy war will continue to simmer at Iraqi expense.
If we’re gonna do this maybe the governments of Iraq, Libya, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela, the Balkan states should also issue arrest warrants for Dubya, Cheney, Obama, Hillary, Slick Willy, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Abrams and on down the line.