Iran sanctions U.S. officials over Soleimani murder

Shafaq News/ Iran imposed sanctions on United States individuals for their involvement in the assassination of the Commander of the Quds Forces, Qasem Soleimani.

On Saturday, Iran's Foreign Ministry stated that the sanctioned individuals include Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, US Central Command (CENTCOM) Commander Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., and former National Security Adviser Robert C. O'Brien.

"The individuals on the list of sanctions participated in the decision-making, planning, organization, financing, support, as well as in the leadership or implementation of the terrorist act," the ministry explained.

Soleimani, head of an elite overseas unit of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, was killed along with Iraqi leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis on January 3, 2020, in a U.S. drone strike on his convoy at Baghdad airport.

Washington had accused Soleimani of masterminding attacks by Iranian-aligned "militias" on U.S. forces in the region. His killing took U.S.-Iranian hostilities into uncharted waters and stoked concern about a major conflagration.