IRGC Commander: General Soleimani Part of Islamic World’s Identity

The great figure (General Soleimani) is a part of Muslim world's identity, which is indebted to his 40-year self-sacrifice and efforts, General Salami said, addressing a ceremony to start the third human trial phase of the home-made coronavirus Noora vaccine in Tehran on Sunday.

Elsewhere in his remarks, he warned that the enemies of the Islamic Republic of Iran attempt to diminish Iranians' self-confidence and induce them to feel like they are weak in order to push them to accept the West as superior and role model.

General Salami added that scientific dependence is what the enemies pursue, noting that the Iranian nation should maintain independence and think independently.

He also urged the academics to acquire know-how and generate knowledge in order to be able to introduce Iranian and religious identity to the world properly.

Enemies are facing with high numbers of daily fatalities as a result of their failure in containing COVID-19 pandemic, General Salami said, adding that Iran has been successful in confronting the disease thanks to having Islam and good leadership.

Noora vaccine is a big achievement derived from thousands of hours of experience and efforts made by Iranian researchers, the commander noted, expressing gratitude to the scientists involved in the vaccine project. 

Former Commander of the IRGC Qods Force Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, his Iraqi trenchmate Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s PMU, and ten of their deputies were martyred by an armed drone strike as their convoy left Baghdad International Airport on January 3, 2020. The attack was ordered by then US President Donald Trump.

To date, Iran’s chief civilian prosecutor has indicted tens of individuals in connection with the assassination, among them former president Trump, the head of US Central Command General Kenneth McKenzie Jr., and former US Secretaries of State and Defense Mike Pompeo and Mark Esper.

The file remains open to the further addition of individuals that Tehran determines to have played a role in the killing.

Both commanders were highly popular because of their key role in fighting against the ISIL terrorist group in the region, particularly in Iraq and Syria.

Back in January 2020, two days after the assassination, the Iraqi parliament passed a law requiring the Iraqi government to end the presence of the US-led foreign forces in the Arab country.

Last year, Baghdad and Washington reached an agreement on ending the presence of all US combat troops in Iraq by the end of 2021.

The US military declared the end of its combat mission in Iraq this month, but resistance forces remain bent on expelling all American forces, including those who have stayed in the country on the pretext of training Iraqi forces or playing an advisory role.

Since the assassination, Iraqi resistance forces have ramped up pressure on the US military to leave their country, targeting American bases and forces on numerous occasions, at one point pushing the Americans to ask them to “just leave us alone”.

Iran and Iraq in a joint statement earlier this month underlined their determination to identify, prosecute and punish the culprits behind the assassination of General Soleimani and al-Muhandis.

Iran and Iraq have issued a joint statement on an investigation into the “criminal and terrorist” assassination by the US of top anti-terror commanders of the two countries in Baghdad in 2020, Iranian Judiciary Deputy Chief and Secretary-General of Iran's Human Rights Headquarters Kazzem Qaribabadi said.

He added that the statement was issued during the second session of a joint Iran-Iraq committee investigating the murder of General Soleimani and al-Muhandis.

Qaribabadi said that in the statement, Iran and Iraq stressed that the assassinations were a “violation of the rules of international law, including relevant international conventions on the fight against terrorism”.