Iranian official vows legal pursuit of Trump, Pompeo for Soleimani's assassination

TEHRAN, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- An Iranian official vowed on Saturday that the legal pursuit of former U.S. President Donald Trump and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will continue until justice is done for the assassination of Iran's top commander Qassem Soleimani.

Pompeo's "horror is quite serious and real," as he, along with Trump and all the other "criminals," must be tried and punished in a just court on the charge of assassinating Iranian and Iraqi officials, said Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, who heads a special legal committee tasked to investigate Soleimani's assassination, in a Twitter post.

In early January, Pompeo said he was intimidated by Iran's warnings of exacting revenge on him and Trump for the assassination of Soleimani, calling on the incumbent U.S. government to provide him with protection.

On Jan. 3, 2020, the U.S. military, at the order of Trump, assassinated Soleimani and the deputy commander of Iraq's paramilitary Hashd Shaabi forces Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis near Baghdad International Airport. The assassination was condemned by Iran as "state terrorism."