Iran issues arrest warrant for Trump over airstrike that killed top general

Iranian officials issued an arrest warrant Monday for President Donald Trump and 35 others believed to have been involved in a U.S. airstrike that claimed the life of Iran’s Gen. Qassem Soleimani early this year, according to multiple reports.

Officials with Interpol later said they would not consider a request by Iran to pursue the issue. In a statement obtained by The Associated Press, the international law enforcement organization said its guidelines forbid it from “any intervention or activities of a political” nature.

Citing the semi-official ISNA news agency, Al Jazeera reported that Tehran prosecutor Ali Alqasimehr said Trump and dozens of others face “murder and terrorism charges.” Officials did not immediately identify the other 35 people believed to be involved in the situation.

Alqasimehr said Iran requested Interpol issue a “red notice” for Trump and others, the highest-level arrest request issued by the policing agency. The agency does not have the authority to issue arrest warrants but instead can request “law enforcement worldwide … locate and provisionally arrest a person pending extradition, surrender, or similar legal action,” according to The New York Times.

At a news conference Monday in Saudi Arabia, Brian Hook, the U.S. special representative for Iran, called the decision to issue warrants for Trump and others a “propaganda stunt that no one takes seriously,” according to Reuters.

"This has nothing to do with national security, international peace or promoting stability," he said.

Soleimani headed the Revolutionary Guard's elite Quds Force. He died Jan. 3 in an airstrike near Baghdad International Airport ordered by Trump. Defense Department officials said in a statement after the airstrike that Soleimani "was actively developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region."

Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of Iran-backed militias in Iraq known as the Popular Mobilization Forces, and five others also died in the airstrike.

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