Iran: Raisi vows revenge on US for Soleimani's death unless Trump put on trial
Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi on Monday vowed revenge for the US assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani unless former President Donald Trump was put on trial.
"If Trump and (former Secretary of State Mike) Pompeo are not tried in a fair court for the criminal act of assassinating General Soleimani, Muslims will take our martyr's revenge," Raisi said in a televised speech on the second anniversary of the general's death.
Iran and allied groups in Iraq have held events to honour Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force, the overseas arm of the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guards, who was killed near Baghdad's airport in a drone strike ordered by former-US President Donald Trump on 3 January 2020.
On Sunday, Iran urged the UN Security Council in a letter to hold the US and Israel - which Tehran says was also involved in the killing - to account, according to Iranian media.
Iraq's Hashd al-Shaabi ex-paramilitaries held a candlelit vigil on Sunday at Baghdad airport to honour Soleimani and their deputy leader, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who was also killed in the strike.
Shock waves
Thousands of Hashd followers gathered in central Baghdad a day earlier to mark the anniversary.
At the time, Trump said that the assassination, which he ordered, came in response to a wave of attacks on US interests in Iraq.
The killing of Soleiman sent shock waves across the region and sparked fears of a direct military confrontation between Washington and Tehran.
Since the killing of Soleimani dozens of rockets and roadside bombs have targeted western security, military, and diplomatic sites across Iraq.
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