Iran calls for UN resolution on General Soleimani's killing

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Poster with a portrait of the dead General Soleimani in Tehran

Photo: ATTA KENARE / AFP

"The UN should exhaust all its possibilities, also in the form of a resolution, to condemn this act of terrorism and to avoid such crimes in the future." Iran's Vice President Mohammed Dehghan wrote in a letter published by the Iranian media.

The letter was sent to the head of the UN General Assembly and relates to the killing of the Iranian General Ghassem Soleimani two years ago.

Soleimani was killed in a US drone attack on January 3, 2020 in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on the orders of US President Donald Trump.

The Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis also died next to him.

According to Tehran, Soleimani was on a diplomatic mission in Iraq.

The attack endangers compliance with international laws and, in this case, peace in the region, said Dehghan.

The UN should therefore immediately condemn this inhuman incident in the strongest possible terms, said the Vice President and head of the legal department in the Presidential Office.

Revenge for the general

Since the general's death, Iran - especially the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) - has been demanding vengeance.

At the same time, Tehran condemns the silence of the international community about the attack and accuses it of discrimination in international law.

Soleimani was the commander of the Quds Brigades, which is regarded as an elite unit of the Revolutionary Guards abroad.

It plays a particularly important role in the Syria conflict and also helped to keep President Bashar al-Assad in power.

According to Tehran, the West should be grateful to General Soleimani for preventing the Islamic State (IS) terrorist militia from marching into the region.

In Iran Soleimani is classified as a national hero for this, but the US saw in him a terrorist and the military face of Iranian interference in the neighboring countries of the region.

Soleimani had worked on plans to attack US targets and was therefore wiped out, Trump said shortly after the drone strike.

(Read more about Soleimani here: The Phantom from Tehran)

Nuclear negotiations with Iran continue

Iran is also active on another diplomatic stage: after the holiday break, negotiations to rescue the atomic pact are resumed in Vienna. In an interim assessment of the seventh round of negotiations before Christmas, insiders praised the constructive atmosphere, but at the same time complained about the lack of dynamic dialogue.

In 2018, the United States withdrew from the agreement that is supposed to prevent Tehran from building nuclear weapons without denying it the peaceful use of nuclear power.

After the USA imposed very tough economic sanctions on Iran, Tehran also gradually moved away from the requirements of the agreement.

Since then, the Islamic Republic has acquired further capabilities to build a nuclear weapon, which is why Israel is keeping military intervention open.

Iran's chief negotiator in Vienna, Ali Bagheri, said the key to the success of the Vienna negotiations was the lifting of US sanctions.

cbu / dpa