Iran issues warrant for Trump over Soleimani kill
Military prosecutor says human error led to shooting down of Ukrainian passenger airliner
Iran has issued an arrest warrant for US President Donald Trump and 35 others over the killing of major-general Qasem Soleimani and has asked Interpol for help, Tehran prosecutor Ali Alqasimehr said on Monday, according to the Fars news agency.
The United States and Interpol both dismissed the idea of acting on such a warrant.
The United States killed Soleimani, leader of the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force, with a drone strike in Iraq on January 3. Washington accused Soleimani of masterminding attacks by Iranian-aligned militias on US forces in the region.
Alqasimehr said the warrants had been issued on charges of murder and terrorist action. He said Iran had asked Interpol to issue a “red notice” seeking the arrest of Trump and the other individuals the Islamic Republic accuses of taking part in the killing of Soleimani.
Alqasimehr said the group included other US military and civilian officials but did not provide further details.
US Iran envoy Brian Hook said the warrant was a “propaganda stunt” at a news conference in Saudi Arabia.
“Our assessment is that Interpol does not intervene and issue red notices... (of) a political nature,” he said.
“This is a political nature. This has nothing to do with national security, international peace or promoting stability... It is a propaganda stunt that no-one takes seriously.”
Interpol said in a statement that its constitution forbade it to undertake “any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character.”
“Therefore, if or when any such requests were to be sent to the General Secretariat,” it added, .”.. Interpol would not consider requests of this nature.”
Alqasimehr said Iran would continue to pursue the matter after Trump left office.
The killing of Soleimani brought the United States and Iran to the brink of armed conflict after Iran retaliated by firing missiles at American targets in Iraq several days later.
Human error
The shooting down of a Ukrainian airliner in Iran in January was due to human error and not an order from senior military authorities, the military prosecutor for Tehran province, Gholam Abbas Torki, said on Monday,
Tasnim news agency reported.
There was no indication that the downing of the airliner, which killed all 176 people aboard, was due to a cyber attack on Iran’s missile or air defense systems, Torki said, adding that three people were under arrest related to the accident.
The airliner was shot down shortly after takeoff in Tehran, when Iran’s air defenses were on high alert, hours after Iran had fired missiles at a US base in Iraq in retaliation for the killing of an Iranian commander. Iran has already described the shooting down of the plane as a tragic mistake.
The operator of the air defense system should have received orders from his superiors before firing two missiles at the airliner, Torki said.
“Twenty six seconds passed between the first and second firing but unfortunately during this time the operator also did not get permission for the second firing from the network,” Torki said.
The black boxes of the airliner have been physically damaged and reading them is technically complicated, Torki said.
France’s BEA crash investigation agency said on Friday it would download the black boxes from the airliner at Iran’s request, easing a stand-off over where they should be read.
(Reuters)