TEHRAN (Iran News) – In a debate expected to produce fireworks between front-runners Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, the two Democrats instead joined forces to blast the US President Donald Trump for not telling the truth on Iran.

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“For our people it is very important in this incident that anyone who was at fault or negligent at any level” face justice, said Rouhani in a televised speech, adding that the “tragic event” would be thoroughly investigated.

He described the fatal incident “a painful and unforgivable” mistake and promised that his government would pursue the case “by all means.”

“More than just one person is responsible for the Ukrainian plane crash,” said the president, adding that those found culpable “should be punished.”

“There are others, too, and I want this issue to be expressed honestly,” he said, without elaborating.

Rouhani also called for a special court to probe the tragic incident.

“The Judiciary must form a special court with a high-ranking judge and dozens of experts…This is not an ordinary case. The entire world will be watching this court.”

Arrests in airliner case

Meanwhile, Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said: “extensive investigations have taken place and some individuals are arrested.” He did not say how many individuals had been detained or named.

The Ukraine International Airlines plane crashed after it was “unintentionally” targeted by Iranian air defense shortly after takeoff from Tehran last Wednesday, killing all passengers and crew on board.

On Saturday, Iran’s military said that the jetliner was brought down due to “human error”.

The plane, en route to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, was carrying 176 passengers and nine crew members from several countries, including 82 Iranians, 57 Canadians — including many Iranians with dual citizenship — and 11 Ukrainians, according to officials.

The plane was downed at a time when Iran’s Armed Forces were on heightened alert after launching a volley of missiles at Iraqi bases housing US troops.

Iran fired the missiles in retaliation for the US assassination of Lt. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) on January 3.

Addressing that issue on Tuesday, Rouhani said while “the root of all sorrows goes back to America… this cannot be a reason for us not to look into all the root causes” of the air disaster.

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TEHRAN (Iran News) – Spokesperson for Parliament Presiding Board Asadollah Abbasi revealed the start of closed session of the Parliament in the presence of Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, IRGC Chief Major General Hossein Salami.

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The Reuters/Ipsos polling released on Tuesday found that 53 percent of adults in the US disapprove of Trump’s policy on Iran, which is an increase of about 9 percentage points from a similar poll that ran in the middle of December.

Some 39 percent of US adults “strongly disapprove” of Trump’s actions in Iran, up 10 points from the December poll.

The poll also found that 71 percent of Americans believe that the US will be at war with Iran within the next few years, up 20 points from May’s poll.

The national opinion poll about the Republican president’s policies against Tehran was largely split along party lines, with disapproval up over the past month among Democrats and independents, while it did not change among Republicans.

The survey was conducted on January 6-7, shortly after Trump ordered the strike in Iraq that killed Iran’s most prominent anti-terror commander and escalated tensions in the region.

The US military carried out an airstrike on the direction of Trump at Baghdad’s international airport early on Friday, assassinating Iranian Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani and the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, as well as eight other companions.

Early on Wednesday, Iran responded to the assassination, striking the American airbase of Ain al-Assad in Anbar province in western Iraq and another in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.

Iraq’s parliament called for the withdrawal of all foreign troops led by the United States from the Arab country following the American assassination.

Trump said on Wednesday that his administration will impose new sanctions against Iran and will ask the NATO military alliance to get more involved in the Middle East following Iran’s retaliation.

A coalition of progressive advocacy groups in the US has called for massive rallies across the country Thursday to protest Trump’s “military brinksmanship” against Iran and demand immediate de-escalation of tensions with Tehran following the US assassination.

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TEHRAN (Iran News) – Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn has said the assassination of Iran’s top general and head of the Quds Force Qasem Soleimani by the United States was “illegal under any law”.

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“Iran appears to be standing down which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world,” Trump said in a televised statement from the Grand Foyer of the White House, flanked by his vice president, cabinet secretaries and senior military officers in their uniforms.

However, he said he would impose more economic sanctions on Iran and called on NATO allies to become more involved in the Middle East.

“The United States is ready to embrace peace with all who seek it,” he said.

His comments came the morning after Iran fired a reported 22 ballistic missiles at a military base in Iraq that houses United States troops in response to last week’s American drone strike that killed Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, commander of Iran’s elite security and intelligence forces.

No American troops were injured or killed in the attacks, the president claimed.

In the hours since some analysts expressed cautious optimism that the missile strikes might prove the end of the immediate conflict rather than the start of a larger confrontation that could spiral into a full-fledged war. Iran’s Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, said afterward that Iran had “concluded proportionate measures” in its retribution for General Soleimani’s death and Trump military conflict with Iran

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In a statement on Wednesday, Abbas Mousavi strongly condemned the recent comments from NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in justification of the US assassination of Lieutenant General Soleimani, saying the remarks have been made in disregard of the principles of international law.

“The performance of this military organization (NATO), one of whose influential members, namely the US regime, is a terrorist state on a global scale, has resulted in no achievement in recent years but devastation, wars, and insecurity for the people of the region and the world,” Mousavi said.

“Justifying the US regime’s measure in the unfair assassination of General Soleimani is shutting eyes to the role of this great commander in the decisive and crucial fight against terrorists and destruction of Daesh (ISIS) and eliminating the threat of that savage terrorist group from the region and areas beyond the region, as far as the European borders,” the spokesperson added.

Mousavi also noted that the NATO secretary-general has mocked the world public opinion by justifying the terrorist and thoughtless measure from the NATO’s biggest member before the shocked and worried eyes of the world to assassinate a high-ranking Iranian military official who had been invited by Iraq’s legitimate government.

The Iranian spokesperson expressed regret that NATO has become a tool for justifying the measures by the United States and a number of its European allies to achieve their ominous political objectives in the region.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran believes that security will return to the region when the terrorist activities of extra-regional forces, some of whom are active under the flag of NATO, would end and providing regional security would be entrusted to the regional governments,” he concluded, according to the Foreign Ministry’s website.

In remarks after a rare NATO meeting on Monday, Stoltenberg said all NATO members stood behind the US in the Middle East after the American assassination of Lt. General Soleimani in Iraq.

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“The Syrian Arab Republic announces its full solidarity with the brotherly people of Iran in what they are facing, and it affirms Iran’s right to defend itself in the face of the US threats and attacks,” official news agency of Syria, SANA quoted an unnamed official source at the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said on Wednesday. Iran News quotes report by PressTV.

“Syria at the same time holds the US administration responsible for all the developments that are taking shape due to the latter’s reckless policy and arrogant mentality. Such a policy governs US acts that could be best described as those of gangs rather than states,” the source pointed out.

He added Washington should learn how to abandon its approach of subjugation and attempts to impose its hegemony on others.

The Syrian foreign ministry concluded, “The Syrian Arab Republic affirms that free states reserve the right to respond to any act of aggression against them in whatever manner they find suitable.

“The US should learn how to give up its approach of subjugating others and imposing its hegemony. Syria reiterates that the US administration is the foremost entity responsible for the escalation of strife and turmoil in the region.”

On January 3, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad condoled Iran over the assassination of Lt. Gen. Soleimani, saying that the late commander’s support for Syria will always be remembered by the Syrian nation.

In a message to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, the Syrian president expressed his and “the Arab people of Syria’s warmest condolences” to the Leader and the Iranian nation.

Assad said the he would never forget Iran Lieutenant General Soleimani’s support for the Syrian Arab Army in defense of Syria and against terrorism and the US.

Describing the assassination of Soleimani as a “criminal act” serving “Zionist and imperialist designs,” Assad said his martyrdom would strengthen the will of the resistance axis.

Early on Wednesday, Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) targeted the US airbase of Ain al-Assad in Anbar province in western Iraq after launching a wave of attacks to retaliate the US assassination of Lt. Gen. Soleimani.

“Tens of surface-to-surface missiles” were fired at the strategic airbase and the attack was later confirmed by the US officials.

The IRGC has called for a complete withdrawal of US troops from the Arab country, asserting that it would not differentiate between the US and Israel in retaliating against the assassination of the Iranian national hero.

“We warn US allies providing bases for the [American] terrorist army… that any country serving as the origin of bellicose and aggressive attacks in any form against the Islamic Republic of Iran will be targeted,” read the IRGC statement.

The IRGC added that it would release more details about the strike.

The strike comes as no surprise since Iran had vowed to take a “harsh revenge” in the wake of the US terror attack that led to the martyrdom of Lt. Gen. Soleimani, the second-in-command of Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, and their companions near Baghdad International Airport on January 3.

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Trump mistake-prone response comes despite his effort to demonstrate strong and decisive leadership of opinion in General Soleimani’s assassination, The Washington Post said in an editorial Tuesday.

Trump and top US officials have refused to provide details of what prompted the decision to attack Soleimani and have offered conflicting accounts over whether the Iranian commander was coordinating imminent attacks on US facilities in the Middle East, the Post said.

The lack of clear information continued late Tuesday in Washington even after Iran retaliated for Soleimani’s death with missile attacks on US military bases in Iraq, the report said.

The White House first announced Tuesday night that Trump or other senior administration officials would make no public remarks in response to the retaliation. Hours later, Trump tweeted that he would address the nation Wednesday morning.

The Trump administration was also embarrassed after the US Defense Department sent a letter to Iraqi officials this week stating the US military would comply with the prime minister’s demand to pull US troops out of the country, only to call it a draft copy released by mistake.

The US military carried out an airstrike on the direction of Trump at Baghdad’s international airport early on Friday, assassinating Soleimani and the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, as well as eight other companions.

Early on Wednesday, Iran responded to the assassination of Soleimani, the Middle East’s most prominent anti-terror commander, striking the American airbase of Ain al-Assad in Anbar province in western Iraq and another in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.

Trump caused an international condemnation after threatening to attack Iranian cultural sites if Tehran retaliates for the top general’s assassination. He had to retreat Tuesday following statements from US Defense Secretary Mark Esper and other officials rejecting such actions as illegal.

Senior US officials also said Trump had surprised his own aides by publicly threatening to impose sanctions against Iraq if the American troops there are forced out of the country.

The flurry of events has led to a sense of confusion in the White House and a lack of clarity following the US assassination. Two administration officials conceded that some of Trump’s messages over the weekend were unhelpful.

Even Washington’s allies, including Israel and several European nations, expressed concerns over the military strike, with some objecting outright and complaining they were not consulted.

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Speaking to Tasnim, the head of Kerman’s emergency medical services said following a stampede in the city during the funeral held for General Soleimani, several people lost their lives and some others were injured.

The issue is under investigation, he said, adding that as soon as the health conditions of the injured are determined, further information on the incident will be released to the public.

A procession in Tehran on Monday drew more than one million people in the Iranian capital, crowding both main thoroughfares and side streets.

Lt. General Soleimani, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who was the deputy head of Iraq’s Hashd al-Sha’abi (PMU), and a number of their entourage were killed in a strike by American drones near Baghdad International Airport in the early hours of Friday.

The White House and the Pentagon claimed responsibility for the assassination of General Soleimani in Iraq, saying the attack was carried out at the direction of US President Donald Trump.

In a message on Friday morning, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei warned that harsh revenge awaits the criminals behind the martyrdom of General Soleimani.

Ayatollah Khamenei also reminded all friends and enemies of the Iranian general that the resistance path will continue vigorously, stressing that continued battle and ultimate victory will disappoint the murderers and criminals.

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