Iranians, Iraqis Mark 3rd Anniversary of Killing of Soleimani, al-Muhandis in US Drone Strike
Iranians gathered at ceremonies across the country on Tuesday to mark the third anniversary of the death of Lt. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, the powerful Iranian military leader who headed the Islamic Revolutionary Guards’ elite Quds Force. Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy chief of Iraq’s paramilitary Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), were killed in a US drone strike on January 3, 2020, in Baghdad, Iraq. The strike, which was ordered by then-President Donald Trump, was seen as a major escalation in tensions between the US and Iran.
During a ceremony in the capital Tehran, the crowds waved Iranian flags and chanted anti-American slogans. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi described Soleimani as a symbol of the fight against oppression and “global arrogance.” Addressing the cheering crowd, he promised, “We have not forgotten and will not forget about avenging the top commander’s blood,” and vowed that “we will not let murderers and those behind the crime sleep comfortably.”
Ceremonies were also held in the cities of Esfahan, Yazd, and Soleimani’s hometown, Kerman.
Iraqis also rallied on Tuesday to mark the third anniversary of the drone attack that killed Soleimani and al-Muhandis, with demonstrators condemning the attack as an act of terrorism and a violation of Iraqi sovereignty. Dozens of protesters at Tahrir Square in the capital Baghdad held pictures of al-Muhandis and Soleimani while denouncing the US.
The PMF held a memorial service at the site of the attack, during which Falih al-Fayyadh, chairman of the paramilitary group, said in a speech that “the martyrs are the makers of the glory of every nation.” He added, “The assassination of the two leaders, al-Muhandis and Soleimani, was orchestrated by [then-US President Donald] Trump, but it will not be long before we see him in the dustbin of history.”
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani praised Soleimani and al-Muhandis in a tweet for their actions against the Islamic State group, referring to “the leaders of victory and their heroism in confronting the most violent extremist terrorist group known to our contemporary history.”
Also on Tuesday, Kazem Gharibabadi, deputy chief of the Iranian judiciary and secretary-general of the High Council for Human Rights, said in a televised interview that 94 US nationals had been charged with involvement in Soleimani’s assassination, the semiofficial Mehr news agency reported. Gharibabadi said the three main culprits were former US President Donald Trump, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and former US Central Command head Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr. The culprits were not limited to the 94 accused Americans, he said, but also included accomplices from seven other countries, including Germany, Britain, and several states in the MENA region.
On Jan. 3, 2020, the US military assassinated Soleimani and al-Muhandis in a drone strike on a convoy of vehicles near the Baghdad International Airport. Iran condemned the assassination as “state terrorism” and, on Jan. 8, 2020, responded by launching missiles at the US Ain al-Asad base in the Iraqi province of Anbar.
