Tasnim – Iran’s Judiciary Chief Hojatoleslam Seyed Ebrahim Raeisi said a legal case has been launched in the Tehran prosecutor’s office in order to pursue through international channels the punishment of those killing Lt. Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

Speaking to reporters upon his arrival in the southwestern city of Kerman on Sunday, Raeisi offered his condolences to the people of the city, the hometown of Lt. Gen. Soleimani, saying the great martyr was a source of honor not only to Iranians but also to the Muslim world.

“Judicial authorities in the Islamic Republic and the dear ones we contacted in Iraq, are pursuing the case of martyrdom of Hajj Qassem Soleimani,” he said.

“A case was formed in the Tehran prosecutor’s office and judges were assigned to work with the Judiciary’s International Department and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and follow up on the issue in the country in cooperation with the top judicial officials in Iraq,” the official said.

The remarks came as a memorial service was held for Martyr Soleimani and his comrades in Tehran’s Mosalla (Grand Prayer Grounds) on Thursday with throngs of people as well as high-ranking government and military officials in attendance.

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 on January 3.

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 the early hours of January 8, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) targeted the US airbase of Ain al-Assad in retaliation for the US move.