An Iranian prosecutor revealed that individuals arrested for the attempted assassination of IRGC Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani will be tried on the charges of acting against national security, Hirabah (fighting God) and helping foreign secret services.
The charge of Hirabah can entail the death sentence for the suspects.
The prosecutor of Kerman in southeastern Iran also uncovered new details on the case a few days after Hossein Taeb, the head of the IRGC’s Intelligence Organization, was cited for making new allegations about the thwarting of the assassination plot which targeted Soleimani’s life last September.
According to Taeb, the suspects had planted 350 kg to 500 kg of ammunition in a canal dug under a mosque and were planning to detonate it and assassinate Soleimani when he came to visit the place.
As reported by IRNA, Kerman Prosecutor Dadkhoda Salari told reporters that three agents will be tried soon.
“These individuals will be tried on the charges of acting against national security, fighting God and helping foreign secret services,” Salari said. He also noted that the plot had went into its implementation phase ahead of the suspects’ arrest.
He added that IRGC intelligence was monitoring the activities of the terrorist group in and outside the country six months before their arrest, noting that their recruitment and training, as well as supply of their weapons, ammunition and communication systems, were all carried out outside the country and even the equipment had been sent to them from abroad.
Yet, the official declined to name any specific country.
“All parts of the operational process, including the recruitment, training, and equipping of spies with weapons, materiel, explosives, communications equipment, and military equipment, were moved across the border by the project's sponsors,” Salari said.
