When 74-year-old President Donald Trump ordered the predator drone strike Jan. 3 outside the Baghdad airport that killed Iran’s 62-tear-old Revolutionary Guarads’ Al-Quds chief Qassem Soleimani and Iraq’s 62-year-old Hezbollah leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, Iran was caught flatfooted. Five days later, Iran struck Ayan al-Assad airbase with dozens of surface-to-air missiles, wounding 110 U.S. soldiers with concussive injuries stationed at the base but no casualties. Trump didn’t respond in-kind, telling Iran he would reserve the right to respond at a time of his choosing. Now Iran asked Lyon, France-based Interpol to issue an arrest warrant for Trump, revealing Iran’s feckless response to its ongoing criminal activities, whether its proxy war against Saudi Arabia, blowing up a Saudi oil refinery Sept. 14, 2019 or Limpet mining oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman June 13, 2019.
Forget about Iran’s ongoing proxy war against Israel, supplying arms and cash to Hamas terrorists in Gaza and Hezbollah militants in Lebanon to attack Israel. Yet 82-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei thinks Iran deserves an arrest warrant. When it comes to proxy wars or illegal military operations, Iran knows Interpol has no jurisdiction. Khamenei threatened to destroy Israel May 22 “Al-Quds Day,” calling Israel a cancerous tumor that must be destroyed. Khamenei likes to threaten Israel when he faces domestic unrest for Iran’s totalitarian-like crackdown of Iranian society. Interpol told Iran it wouldn’t consider its request for an arrest warrant for Trump. Trump is blamed for the rise in tensions by the U.S. press for canceling the July 15, 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA], an international agreement to limit Iran’s uranium enrichment activities.
Trump cancelled the JCPOA May 8, 2018 because of Iran’s proxy war using Yemen’s Houthi rebels to attack Saudi Arabia, not to mention fomenting war with Israel supplying arms and cash to Hamas and Hezbollah. Yet if you read the U.S. press, Trump should have stayed in the JCPOA because Iran was meeting certain technical provisions of the agreement, while, at the same time, waging war against Saudi Arabia and Israel. Tehran’s chief state prosecutor Ali Alqasimehr told Iran’s semi-official new agency IRNA that the request was made to Interpol to arrest Trump for the Jan. 3 predator drone strike that killed Soleimani and Muhandis. “Murder and terrorism charges” were asked of Interpol, something the agency promptly rejected, leaving Tehran few options left other that more covert attacks against the U.S. military or its allies in the Persian Gulf or Middle East.
Alqasimehr requested the “red notice” put on Trump and other U.S. officials, Interpol’s highest alert notice reserved only for the most dangerous international criminals. While Interpol works with local police departments, its arrest warrants are generally not enforceable. Alqasimehr did not identify in his arrest request anyone other than Trump, making more a PR statement than anything enforceable in any legal jurisdiction. Iran has no extradition treaty with the U.S. or any other country, making the request even more symbolic. If Interpol rejected Iran’s request to arrest Trump, what possible value other that domestic or foreign PR to request something that has zero clout. Trump’s Janl 3 decision to take out Soleimani and Muhandis was a no-brainer considering both individuals has blood on their hand killing U.S. military personnel, and continuing to plot attacks on U.S. allies.
Iran’s beef with the U.S. is political or military, not related to Interpol’s mandate to help prosecute international crime syndicates. If anything, Interpol should have told the Ayatollah Khamenei that Inter;pol should arrest high-ranking Iranian officials that continue to break international law sponsoring proxy wars or, more recently, using it military or surrogates to attack sovereign states, oil tankers or oil refineries. Interpol said its jurisdiction “would not consider requests of this nature,” referring to “political” issues that’s better left to world bodies like the United Nations. Brian Hook, U.S. special representative for Iran, dismissed Iran’s request to Interpol to for an arrest warrant for Trump. “It’s a propaganda stunt that no one takes seriously and make Iranians look foolish,” Hook said. Iran has no shame when it comes to making outrageous PR statements.
Iranian officials hope that Trump loses his reelection bid, putting foreign policy back into the Obama-Biden administration hands, most likely reinstating the JCPOA, placating Iran’s interests, despite its malign activities in the Middle East and North Africa. With Trump gone, the U.S. returns to a global approach to foreign policy, essentially working with the U.N. to determine resolution to international problems including the Israeli-Palestinian issue. With Trump gone, it’s back to usual of letting the U.N. dictate what’s best for U.S. foreign policy, not what’s best for Israel of other U.S. allies. With Iran continuing its proxy war against Saudi Arabia, returning to the JCPOA will only reinforce Iran’s proxy wars in the Mideast and North Africa. As outrageous as issuing an arrest warrant for Trump sounds, a sizable portion of the U.S. Congress doesn’t disagree.
