“Those masquerading as diplomats and those who shamelessly sat to identify Iranian cultural & civilian targets should not even bother to open a law dictionary. Jus cogens refer to peremptory norms of international law, i.e. international red lines. That is, a big(ly) ‘no no’,” Zarif tweeted on Sunday.

It came after Trump warned Iran that a strike on “any Americans” or “American assets” in retaliation for the assassination of the IRGC Quds Force commander, General Qassem Soleimani, would result in the US targeting 52 sites — including Iran’s cultural sites.

But deliberately targeting cultural sites or cultural heritage sites could amount to a war crime under international law.

Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also excoriated the president, tweeting, “This is a war crime. Threatening to target and kill innocent families, women and children — which is what you’re doing by targeting cultural sites — does not make you a ‘tough guy.’ It does not make you ‘strategic.’ It makes you a monster.”

General Soleimani, the deputy head of Iraq’s Hashd al-Sha’abi, 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 confirmed the assassination of General Soleimani in Iraq, saying the attack was carried out at the direction of 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.

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Lavrov made the remarks during a phone call with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Russian Foreign Ministry reported on Friday.

“They [Lavrov and Pompeo] have discussed the situation related to the murder of Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani by the U.S. military in an airstrike on the Baghdad airport,” the Russian ministry stated.

“Lavrov stressed that the purposeful actions of a UN member state on eliminating officials of another UN member state, especially on the territory of a third sovereign state without giving it prior notice, blatantly violate the principles of international law and should be condemned.”

“The Russian minister has pointed out that this step by the U.S. is fraught with serious consequences for peace and security in the region and that it does not aid the efforts on finding solutions to difficult issues accumulated in the Middle East. On the contrary, it leads to a new wave of escalation. Moscow urges Washington to abandon unlawful forceful tactics of achieving its goals on the international arena and to resolve any issues at the negotiating table,” the ministry added.

The Pentagon earlier confirmed that a missile strike near the Baghdad airport killed the head of the Quds Force Qassem Soleimani. The operation was carried out at the direction of U.S. President Donald Trump, the statement said.

Washington blamed Soleimani for allegedly approving a rally outside the U.S. embassy in Baghdad earlier this week.

On Friday, U.S. drones struck a convoy carrying Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), on the Baghdad International Airport road.

Following Soleimani’s assassination, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said those who assassinated the IRGC Quds Force commander must await harsh revenge.

Ayatollah Khamenei added that the “cruelest people on earth” assassinated the “honorable” commander who “courageously fought for years against the evils and bandits of the world.”

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TEHRAN (Iran News) – The Trump administration on Friday justified its killing of a top Iranian general as an act of self-defense, trying to deflect accusations that it violated international law and concerns raised by legal experts and a senior UN rights investigator.

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TEHRAN (Iran News) – Spokesman of the Iranian Armed Forces Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi announced on Saturday that Iran will respond to the US move of the assassination of IRGC’s Quds Force commander Lieutenant General Qasem Soleimani and take revenge but will avoid taking any hasty action.

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Pompeo made the claim in a number of tweets on Friday to justify General Soleimani’s assassination.

“I spoke today with Chinese Politburo Member Yang Jiechi to discuss @realDonaldTrump’s decision to eliminate Soleimani in response to imminent threats to American lives. I reiterated our commitment to de-escalation,” he said.

“Discussed with @DominicRaab the recent decision to take defensive action to eliminate Qassem Soleimani. Thankful that our allies recognize the continuing aggressive threats posed by the Iranian Quds Force. The U.S. remains committed to de-escalation,” Soleimani said in another tweet.

“Spoke with @HeikoMaas about @realDonaldTrump’s decision to take defensive action to eliminate Qassem Soleimani. Germany is also concerned about the Iranian regime’s continued military provocations. The U.S. remains committed to de-escalation.”

The IRGC announced in a statement on Friday morning that Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), were martyred in the attack carried out by the United States.

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TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) has rejected earlier reports which claimed that some PMU leaders have been assassinated in an airstrike on Saturday in North Baghdad, Taji.

Iraq’s state TV reported that a United States airstrike targeted an Iraqi militia late on Friday on Taji road north of Baghdad. It did not name the militia or provide further details.

Airstrikes have killed six people and critically wounded three, an Iraqi Army source told Reuters late on Friday.

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TEHRAN (Iran News) – The chief commander of Iran Army says the country will give a crushing response to the threats posed by enemies at any level.

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Asked about the possibility of tensions spiraling into a war with Iran, Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, “Do I want to? No. I want to have peace. I like peace. And Iran should want to have peace more than anybody. So I don’t see that happening,” Reuters reported.

In response to US accusations, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman called on the White House to quit its destructive policies in the region.

“The surprising impudence of the American authorities is at such a level that after slaughtering at least 25 people, wounding many Iraqi people, inflicting financial damages on Iraq and violating the country’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity, they (Americans) are now blaming the Islamic Republic of Iran for the protests from the Iraqi people against their own ferocious measures in a blatant and cheap act of pinning the blame on others,” Abbas Mousavi said.

On Sunday, US forces conducted drone strikes on a number of Kata’ib Hezbollah bases in Iraq’s western Anbar province, killing at least 25 individuals and leaving another 51 injured, according to the PMU (Popular Mobilization Units).

Following the strikes, the Pentagon issued a statement saying that it had targeted three locations of the Iraqi fighters in Iraq and two in Syria in response to alleged attacks targeting American forces.

Kata’ib Hezbollah is part of the PMU. The PMU, also known as Hashd al-Sha’abi, played a key role in defeating the Daesh terrorist group that had occupied parts of Iraq since 2014.

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TEHRAN (Iran News) – Up to 4,000 forces of the US troops have been ordered to deploy to the Middle East region following mass protests outside the US embassy by Iraqi protesters infuriated over Washington’s recent deadly military aggression on the Arab country.

The US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division’s alert brigade of roughly 4,000 paratroopers, known as the Deployment Ready Brigade (DRB), has been issued orders to prepare troops for possible deployment in the days ahead in Middle East countries like Kuwait, three US defense officials told Fox News on Tuesday.

At least 500 paratroopers are already making their way to Kuwait, the officials added.

Earlier in the day, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said in a statement that at least 750 paratroopers were set to swiftly deploy to the region.

Esper added that additional forces from the Immediate Response Force (IRF) were prepared to deploy over the next several days.

“This deployment is an appropriate and precautionary action taken in response to increased threat levels against US personnel and facilities, such as we witnessed in Baghdad today,” The US defense Secretary said.

The US embassy in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad was evacuated on Tuesday after thousands of angry demonstrators gathered outside the gates of the compound to condemn Washington’s fatal military aggression that targeted Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) on Sunday.

The protesters held up signs calling for the US mission to be shut down and for the parliament to order US forces to leave Iraq.

American forces deployed inside the compound fired tear gas, flashbangs and stun grenades to disperse the crowd, however, the Iraqi protesters breached the outer wall of the high-security compound, throwing bricks and stones at the surveillance cameras around the building.

Reacting to the developments in Iraq, US President Donald Trump accused Tehran of being behind the mass protests outside the US embassy in Baghdad.

Trump issued what he called a threat against Iran, saying in a tweet that Tehran will be held fully responsible for any US lives lost in Iraq and claimed Iran would pay a “big price” in case US facilities are damaged or its forces are attacked in the Arab country.

Rejecting the US accusations, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Seyyed Abbas Mousavi said Washington should abandon its destructive policies in the region and warned US officials against taking any uncalculated action.

Iraqi President Barham Saleh called on protesters to avoid any escalation and withdraw from the embassy’s vicinity.

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In a statement on Tuesday, Abbas Mousavi dismissed the “bogus” allegations that the American officials have made against Iran over the recent developments in Iraq and called US initiatives as destructive regional policies.

“The surprising impudence of the American authorities is at such a level that after slaughtering at least 25 people, wounding many Iraqi people, inflicting financial damages on Iraq and violating the country’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity, they (Americans) are now blaming the Islamic Republic of Iran for the protests from the Iraqi people against their own ferocious measures in a blatant and cheap act of pinning the blame on others,” Mousavi said.

Such allegations leveled by the US amount to an insult to the people of Iraq, the Iranian spokesman said, asking the US officials how and with what logic they expect the Iraqi nation to remain silent about such extensive crimes.

“On the one hand, the Americans have ignored the Iraqi nation’s liberality and pursuit of independence, and on the other hand, they have forgotten their role in supporting Saddam and in creating Daesh and the consequent massacre and depredation of the Iraqi people, and have apparently failed to remember that they are still deemed by the people of Iraq to be ‘occupiers’,” the spokesman added.

He went on to dismiss the accusations and, warning Washington against showing any thoughtless and wrong reaction in their calculations, called on the White House to reconsider its destructive policies on the region.

On Sunday, US forces conducted drone strikes on a number of Kata’ib Hezbollah bases in Iraq’s western Anbar province, killing at least 25 individuals and leaving another 51 injured, according to the PMU (Popular Mobilization Units).

Following the strikes, the Pentagon issued a statement saying that it had targeted three locations of the Iraqi fighters in Iraq and two in Syria in response to alleged attacks targeting American forces.

Kata’ib Hezbollah is part of the PMU. The PMU, also known as Hashd al-Sha’abi, played a key role in defeating the Daesh terrorist group that had occupied parts of Iraq since 2014.

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