An arrest warrant was issued Thursday for outgoing President Donald Trump in connection with the killing of General Qassim Soleimani and Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, Iraq’s judiciary said.
The warrant was issued by a judge in Baghdad’s investigative court tasked with probing the Washington-directed drone strike that killed Soleimani and Al-Muhandis, the court’s media office said.
They were killed outside the capital’s airport last January.
The arrest warrant was for a charge of premeditated murder, which carries the death penalty on conviction. It is unlikely to be carried out but symbolic in the waning days of Trump’s presidency.
The decision to issue the warrant “was made after the judge recorded the statements of the claimants from the family of Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis,” according to a statement from the Supreme Judicial Council.
The investigation into the killings is ongoing, the court said, according to The Associated Press.
Iran-backed groups have since stepped up attacks against the US presence in Iraq, leading to threats by Washington to shutter its Baghdad diplomatic mission.
