Iran, Iraq issue statement on probe into the assassination of top commanders

A senior Iranian Judiciary official says Iran and Iraq have issued a joint statement on an investigation into the “criminal and terrorist” assassination by the United States of top anti-terror commanders of the two countries in Baghdad early last year.

According to Press TV, Kazem Gharibabadi, the Judiciary chief’s deputy for international affairs and secretary of the country’s High Council for Human Rights, said on Thursday that the statement was issued during the second session of a joint Iran-Iraq committee investigating the assassination of Lt. Gen. Qassem Soleimani and Mahdi al-Muhandis.

General Soleimani, the then commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), and his Iraqi trenchmate Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy head of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), were martyred along with their companions in a US drone strike authorized by then-US President Donald Trump near Baghdad International Airport on January 3, 2020.

Both commanders were admired by Muslim nations for eliminating the US-sponsored Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in the region, particularly in Iraq and Syria.

In the statement, Gharibabadi said, Iran and Iraq stressed that the assassinations were a “violation of the rules of international law, including relevant international conventions on the fight against terrorism.”

“In addition, the two countries reaffirmed their serious and firm determination to identify, prosecute and punish all those involved in deciding, planning and implementing this criminal act,” he emphasized.

He noted that the two countries have exchanged documents and reports about the case.

“Documents and information related to the role and interference of the American defendants were presented by the Iranian delegation to the Iraqi side, and it was decided that complementary investigations would be carried out by the judiciaries of the two countries in this regard,” the senior Iranian human rights official said.

He added that Iran and Iraq also agreed to continue the exchange of documents and information in the investigation process.

“In the joint statement, the two sides also emphasized that they would use legal and judicial capacities at national and international levels to deliver justice and prevent the occurrence of such criminal acts,” Gharibabadi pointed out.

They also agreed to continue bilateral cooperation to gather information about all defendants and ways to hold them accountable.

The third round of the joint committee will be held in Baghdad within the next 45 days.

SS