IRAN reiterated calls for the killers of General Qassim Soleimani to be brought to justice on Thursday, warning that his assassination in January 2020 threatened peace and security worldwide.

Iranian ambassador and permanent representative at the UN Office in Geneva Esmaeil Baghaei Hamaneh was speaking at the 47th regular session of the UN Human Rights Council when he described the killing of Gen Soleimani as “a brutal, arbitrary, unjust, and illegal act.”

He said that “the US administration’s failure in holding accountable and bringing to justice the perpetrators behind the assassination is explicitly clear.”

The Quds Force commander was killed in a targeted drone strike at Baghdad International Airport last year in an attack that was authorised by then US president Donald Trump.

Mr Trump is accused of luring Gen Soleimani to the Iraqi capital after he arrived for talks with then PM Abdel Abdul Mahdi, who described the killing as “a political assassination.”

Tehran responded by asking Interpol to issues arrest warrants for the former US president and 47 other US officials it says are linked to the drone strike.

Iranian intelligence services have implicated the German military and British-based security privateer G4S, which manages Baghdad airport, in the assassination.

Mr Hamaneh said that neither Iranians or other regional powers will give up their demand to “bring the perpetrators behind that heinous crime to justice.”

In July 2020 the UN Human Rights Council found that the killing of Gen Soleimani was “unlawful” and a violation of the UN Charter.

But the US is not a member of the council and dismissed the findings.