Joe Johnson
Iran has issued an arrest warrant and asked Interpol for help in arresting and detaining US President, Donald Trump and dozens of others it believes carried out the drone strike that killed a top Iranian general in Baghdad.
Tehran prosecutor Ali Alqasimehr said on Monday that Trump, along with more than 30 others Iran accuses of involvement in the January 3 attack that killed General Qassem Soleimani, face “murder and terrorism charges”, the semi-official ISNA news agency reported.
Alqasimehr did not identify anyone else sought other than Trump, but stressed Iran would continue to pursue his prosecution even after his presidency ends.
Interpol, based in Lyon, France, is yet to comment on the request.
Alqasimehr was also quoted as saying Iran had requested a “red notice” be put out for Trump and the others, the highest-level notice issued by Interpol, requesting that it seeks the location and arrest of the individual named.
Under a red notice, local authorities make the arrests on behalf of the country that requested it. The notices cannot force countries to arrest or extradite suspects, but can put government leaders on the spot and limit suspects’ travel.
After receiving a request, Interpol meets by committee and discusses whether or not to share the information with its member states. Interpol has no requirement for making any of the notices public, though some do get published on its website.
It is unlikely Interpol would grant Iran’s request as its guideline for notices forbids it from “undertaking any intervention or activities of a political” nature.
The US killed General Soleimani, who oversaw the Revolutionary Guard Corps’s expeditionary Quds Force, and others in the January attack near Baghdad International Airport.
The assassination came after months of incidents raising tensions between the two countries and ultimately saw Iran retaliate with a ballistic missile strike targeting American troops in Iraq.
Aljazeera
