UK-based multinational security services company G4S collaborated with American forces in the drone strike killing of Lieutenant General Qasem Soleimani on 3 January 2020 in Iraq, Tehran Prosecutor Ali Alqasi-Mehr said on Wednesday.
“One of the important and significant issues in this case is the role of the British company G4S in the assassination of the commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), which was responsible for flight securing at Baghdad airport, and the agents of that company provided information to the terrorists about General Soleimani and his companions upon their arrival,” said Ali Alqasi-Mehr.
He was addressing a legal and judicial follow-up session pertaining to the assassination case of the commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).
Replying to previous reports claiming that the company, which has sent staff throughout various Middle East locations, was implicated in the killing, a spokesman for G4S was quoted by The Sun as dismissing the allegation as “completely unfounded”.
“In response to recent, completely unfounded speculation, G4S wishes to make clear that it had absolutely no involvement in the attack on Qasem Soleimani and Abu-Mahdi al-Muhandis which took place on 3 January 2020,” said the spokesperson.
A US air base in Germany has also been implicated in the assassination, with the legal official saying that it had been in charge of directing the drone attack by providing information and flight data to the American forces.
The identification of those people, according to Alqasi-Mehr, was also on the agenda of the investigation.
Earlier in December, the head of the Iranian Judiciary's High Council for Human Rights Ali Bagheri-Kani had requested that Germany cooperate with Tehran in its effort to determine the perpetrators and accomplices in the crime.
Alqasi-Mehr also said that six countries - Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Qatar, Jordan, and Kuwait - had been picked to represent Iran through international legal channels to pursue the case.
According to the official, the whereabouts of US terrorist suspects will be tracked by a specially designated committee, with the aim of apprehending and extraditing them.
The Tehran Prosecutor also reiterated that Donald Trump was the key individual at the top of the list of those complicit in the assassination, vowing that his pursuit will continue even after his tenure as US President ends.
Iran’s Chief Justice Ebrahim Raeisi, also told the judicial follow-up session that there are sufficient documents to pursue the case and demand punishment for the perpetrators.
The death of General Soleimani had “united” the Middle East region in “opposing US arrogance”, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said in a Twitter post on Wednesday.
Anniversary of Soleimani's Death
As 3 January marks the one year anniversary of the US drone strike assassination of one of Iran's most respected and revered generals, Qasem Soleimani, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has said that the reign of "crazy murderer" Donald Trump will soon end, as President-elect Joe Biden takes over the Oval Office, and the situation in the Middle East will stabilise after he's gone.
During a televised session of the cabinet on 30 December, Rouhani claimed that "one of the consequences of this shameless and foolish deed is the end of Trumpism. A few days from now, the rule of this savage and crazy murderer will end, and the whole history of his regime will go into the dustbin of history."
The Iranian president slammed the Daesh (ISIS)* terrorist group as a "mercenary" force for the US and Israel, alleging that Tel Aviv provided jihadists with weapons, while Soleimani was known to have fought the jihadists in both Syria and Iraq.
Qasem Soleimani, along with the deputy head of Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Units (PMU), Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, was killed on 3 January at the express orders of US President Donald Trump, as a drone attack targeted their vehicle outside Baghdad International Airport.
After Soleimani's death, Iran sought retaliation by carrying out ballistic missile strikes against a pair of US military bases in Iraq on 8 January. The strikes did not result in any deaths or serious injuries, yet caused traumatic brain injuries of dozens of American soldiers. Iraq's parliament issued a declaration demanding the withdrawal of all US forces from the country.
The death of Soleimani led to the spiralling of tensions between Washington and Tehran, which had already soured after Donald Trump withdrew the US from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2018.
Iranian officials have repeatedly threatened further attacks, with an advisor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last month referring to the missile attack as an “initial slap” of revenge.
* Daesh (ISIS/ISIL/"Islamic State") is a terrorist organisation banned in Russia and other nations