Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s President, launched a scathing attack on former US President Donald Trump for authorizing the drone strike that resulted in the killing of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Guard Corps General Qasem Soleimani on January 3, 2020. President Raisi also called for justice for Soleimani’s death during his speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

The Iranian President described Soleimani as a “freedom seeking man” and said he became a martyr because of Donald Trump. However, he did not take Trump’s name in his speech and called him the “previous president of the United States of America” who had “effectively managed to sign the document”. Raisi also called the death of Soleimani a ‘savage, immoral and illegal crime’.

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“The proper pursuit of justice in the face of a crime that the American president admitted to have put his signature on will not be abandoned. We will pursue through a fair tribunal, to bring to justice those who martyred our beloved general Qassem Soleimani,” the Iranian President said.

Following the drone strike that killed the Iranian General, Trump had said that Soleimani was “caught in the act and terminated.” He also said that Soleimani was plotting attacks on American citizens, including diplomats and soldiers in Iraq. The former US President also said that Soleimani was responsible for the deaths of American soldiers due to rocket attacks in Baghdad.

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As a response to the killing of General Soleimani, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Guard Corps launched missile attacks on US positions in Iraq, however, the attack did not result in the death of any US servicemen.

More attacks and threats continued for days after the death of Soleimani, however, Trump decided to back off later. He said the decision was because Iran standing down after its ballistic missile strikes on US positions.