SULAIMANI (ESTA) — A joint Iraqi and Iranian investigative committee reached an agreement to take necessary measures to prosecute perpetrators involved in a U.S. drone attack that killed Iran’s top general.
Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis were killed in a U.S. drone strike near Baghdad international airport on January 3, 2020.
Soleimani headed an elite overseas unit of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, while Muhandis commanded Hashid al-Shaabi paramilitary network in Iraq.
“This committee started the legal proceedings to pursue and prosecute the parties involved in the assassination of two distinguished commanders,” the joint investigative committee said in a statement, according to Fars news agency.
Secretary General of Iran’s human rights headquarters Kazzem Qaribabadi said in a tweet that the two sides confirmed the crime was committed during the official visit of Soleimani to Iraq, Fars news agency reported.
The joint investigative including Iranian and Iraqi officials is expected to be held in Tehran next month.
The United States had accused Soleimani of masterminding attacks by Iranian-aligned militias on U.S. forces in the region.
Days after the U.S. drone strike, Iran retaliated with a rocket attack on an Iraqi air base where U.S. forces were stationed, and Iranian forces on high alert mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian passenger airliner taking off from Tehran.
