“A foreign guest traveled to Iraq, carrying a message in response to message of Saudi Arabia and the Iraqi Prime Minister,” Chief of Staff of Iranian Armed Forces Major General Bagheri told a local ceremony in Tehran on Tuesday, referring to Martyr Soleimani’s visit to Baghdad. The commander did not provide further details about the message.
General Soleimani “entered Iraq with a civilian airliner in an explicit manner,” added the Major General.
US terrorist forces targeted Soleimani not with a regular bomb but with one that has been designed for armored vehicles, Bagheri added. “This bomb that hit General Soleimani’s car can infiltrate 30cm into steel. They used such a bomb and committed such a crime so as to dismantle their body.”
The top Iranian military figure also said that countries such as Qatar, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia will be held accountable for the assassination of General Soleimani.
“Who did this? America as they have announced. Who has helped the US? Bases in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, and Bahrain have provided intelligence aid. The aircraft took off from military bases of Kuwait, Jordan, and Iraq and targeted [Soleimani’s] car.”
All these countries should be held accountable, he said. “We will provide each of these countries with documents so that they could not deny their direct hand in this crime.”
On January 3, 2020, a US drone strike near Baghdad International Airport assassinated General Soleimani, former commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps. The attack — that also killed al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) anti-terror group, along with several others — came while General Soleimani was on an official visit to the Iraqi capital.
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