TEHRAN: Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in a message once again slammed US terrorist operation in Iraq, saying Trump is violating Jus Cogens, the Peremptory Norms of the International Law.
“-Having committed grave breaches of int’l law in Friday’s cowardly assassinations,” Zarif tweeted on Sunday.
“@realdonaldtrump threatens to commit again new breaches of JUS COGENS;” he added. “Targeting cultural sites is a WAR CRIME.” “Whether kicking or screaming, end of US malign presence in West Asia has begun,” he noted.
“Those masquerading as diplomats and those who shamelessly sat to identify Iranian cultural & civilian targets should not even bother to open a law dictionary, Zarif said in another message. “Jus cogens refers to peremptory norms of international law, i.e. international red lines. That is, a big(ly) “no no”.
Earlier, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei commented on the martyrdom of the great commander of IRGC’s Quds Forces Major General Qasem Soleimani and said harsh and severe revenge is awaiting the criminals.
Lieutenant General Soleimani and the acting commander of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) – known as the Hash al-Shaabi – Abu Mahdi Al-Mohandes, who were separately leaving Baghdad airport in two cars were targeted and assassinated.
Iraqi media said the US helicopters targeted both cars.
Meanwhile, Iran’s Defense Minister Amir Hatami said the international community has the responsibility of acting against the US state terrorism because their failure to fulfill their duty will result in their repetition and such acts will be institutionalized.
Speaking in a ceremony in Tehran, Brigadier General Hatami said that the United States has taken “an act of idiocy” in ordering the assassination of a high-ranking commander.
Assassinating a person on an official visit to another country, along with the host, is against the international law and unprecedented in history, Hatami said.
He added that ordering a terrorist army to assassinate a person and then claiming the responsibility of such a war crime shows the utmost frustration of the enemies.
Both the person who ordered such a terrorist act and also the world know that if this act goes without an appropriate response, the instructor he will become “more arrogant”, exactly like when saw that world kept quiet about his oppressive sanctions, now he is sanctioning his own friends too, he said.
Hatami added that, now, the US is even sanctioning Europe, noting that the world kept quiet and shrank back when the US used the dollar as a war weapon as a tool to oppressively pressure people.
Those who approve of US President Donald Trump’s act of terrorism must know that it will be recorded in the memory of the Iranian people as Saddam’s using of chemical weapons is etched on their memory, the minister said.
“Those who approve of the act should know that they have a share in the idiocy; without Lieutenant General Soleimani, Daesh (the ISIS) would have been established. If that had happened, Israel would have stood aside in security and enjoy it, and the Muslims would have been fighting with each other.”
He added that the US is very unhappy with the fact that Daesh is uprooted because they had developed and nurtured it.
History will testify and nations will understand that the US came to support ISIS and assassinated Lieutenant General Soleimani, Hatami added.
Meanwhile, Commander of the Iranian Army Major-General Abdurrahim Mousavi said on Sunday that it is very unlikely that the US is brave enough to attack Iran, and that the threat to attack 52 cultural sites in Iran is to justify their terrorist attacks.
Speaking on the sidelines of commemoration of the 25th anniversary of martyrdom of Major General Mansour Sattari, General Mousavi said that the US resorted to threaten Iranian cultural heritage to justify theirheinous criminal action against Iranian Commander General Soleimani and to keep their face in the international public opinion.
He added that if the US makes a move and clash with Iran, it will become clear that where the 5 and the 2 belong to.
He said that crowds of people of Iran are attending funeral procession of Lieutenant-general Qasem Soleimani to pay their last respect for him indicating to what extent he has been cherished in Iran.
Iran’s world renowned General Soleimani, who had a major role in annihilating the US-made Daesh (ISIS) terror group in Syria and Iraq, was assassinated in Baghdad. US President Donald Trump later on Friday claimed the responsibility of the terrorist move and said that he has directly ordered the US army to assassinate the extremely popular general. – NNI