Iran Accuses UK Security Firm of Leaking Info for US Drone Strike That Killed General Soleimani

By Staff, Agencies

UK-based multinational security services company G4S collaborated with American forces in the drone strike killing of Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani on January 3rd, 2020 in Iraq, Tehran Prosecutor Ali Alqasi-Mehr said on Wednesday.

“One of the important and significant issues in this case is the role of the British company G4S in the assassination of the commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolution Guard [IRG], which was responsible for flight securing at Baghdad airport, and the agents of that company provided information to the terrorists about General Soleimani and his companions upon their arrival,” said Ali Alqasi-Mehr.

The prosecutor was addressing a legal and judicial follow-up session pertaining to the assassination case of the commander of the Quds Force of the IRG.

Replying to previous reports claiming that the company, which has sent staff throughout various Middle East locations, was implicated in the killing, a spokesman for G4S was quoted by The Sun as dismissing the allegation as “completely unfounded.”

“In response to recent, completely unfounded speculation, G4S wishes to make clear that it had absolutely no involvement in the attack on Qassem Soleimani and Abu-Mahdi al-Muhandis which took place on 3 January 2020,” said the spokesperson.

A US air base in Germany has also been implicated in the assassination, with the legal official saying that it had been in charge of directing the drone attack by providing information and flight data to the American forces.

The identification of those people, according to Alqasi-Mehr, was also on the agenda of the investigation.

Earlier in December, the head of the Iranian Judiciary's High Council for Human Rights Ali Bagheri-Kani requested that Germany cooperate with Tehran in its effort to determine the perpetrators and accomplices in the crime.

Alqasi-Mehr also said that six countries - Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Qatar, Jordan, and Kuwait - had been picked to represent Iran through international legal channels to pursue the case.

According to the official, the whereabouts of US terrorist suspects will be tracked by a specially designated committee, with the aim of apprehending and extraditing them.

The Tehran Prosecutor also reiterated that US President Donald Trump was the key individual at the top of the list of those complicit in the assassination, vowing that his pursuit will continue even after his tenure as US President ends.

Iran’s Chief Justice Sayyed Ebrahim Raeisi also told the judicial follow-up session that there are sufficient documents to pursue the case and demand punishment for the perpetrators.