By Abdulla Gaafarelkhalifa

On January 3, 2022, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, when speaking about the second anniversary of the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps by the US in a televised speech, said that former US President Donald Trump must face trial for the assassination or Tehran would take revenge.

"If Trump and Pompeo (referring to 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 stated, adding "The aggressor, murderer, and main culprit - the then president of the United States - must be tried and judged under the (Islamic) law of retribution, and God's ruling must be carried out against him."

Raisi demanded the formation of a “fair court” in which Trump, former Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, and other American officials are to be sentenced and punished. If not, he said, “don’t doubt, and I tell this to all American statesmen, that the hand of revenge will come out of the ummah’s [nation’s] sleeve.”

The assassination of the General and his Iraqi lieutenant occurred during a drone strike near the Baghdad airport. The US had reacted in response to the death of a US contractor, the wounding of four US service members, and Iraqi service members via rocket attacks.

To this day, no group, including Iran, has claimed responsibility for those attacks.

Meanwhile, in Baghdad, thousands demonstrated, chanting “death to America” to mark the second anniversary. In December, it was announced that the US-led coalition against ISIL was over, but 2,500 US troops were to remain in Iraq for training and assistance to national forces. The leader of a pro-Iran coalition group, Hadi al-Ameri, stated: “We will not accept anything less than full withdrawal as revenge for the blood of our martyrs.”