A prevailing issue with international institutions is their susceptibility to be used as a political tool. The same nation that referred to the United States as the “the great Satan” has levied a complaint with Interpol over comments made in U.S. Congressional hearings last October. CNS Reports:
The Iranian government has lodged a complaint with Interpol regarding comments made during U.S. congressional hearings last October, including calls to assassinate top figures in Tehran’s terror-sponsoring security apparatus.
Iran’s national prosecutor general, Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, in a letter to Interpol on Monday called for “legal action” against two Americans, the official IRNA news agency reported.
Mohseni-Ejei told Iran’s Press TV that the judiciary had opened a case and was “providing more documents to the Interpol, so that the two Americans, who have threatened the Iranian commander with assassination, would be prosecuted.”
Interpol does not “prosecute” criminal suspects but it is empowered to issue “red notices” – equivalent to placing a suspect on a most-wanted list – at the request of member states or international organizations.
Queries sent to Interpol about the Iranian request brought no response by press time.
The two Americans in Iran’s sights are former U.S. Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Jack Keane and Foundation for Defense of Democracies Senior Fellow Reuel Marc Gerecht, a former CIA operative.
The controversy dates back to an Oct. 26 House Homeland Security Committee subcommittee hearing on “Iranian Terror Operations on American Soil,” held after the exposure of an alleged plot by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ foreign operations wing, the Qods Force, to carry out terror attacks on U.S. soil, including the assassination of the Saudi ambassador in Washington.
The IRGC-QF, led for the past decade by Gen. Ghasem Soleimani, stands accused of numerous covert terrorist activities, including supporting Shi’ite militias carry out deadly attacks against U.S. and British troops in Iraq.
In his testimony, Keane questioned the value of sanctions against Tehran and suggested that cyberattacks, covert actions and assassination would be more effective.
“Why are we permitting the Qods Force leaders, who have been organizing this killing of us for 30 years, to go around, still walking around?” he asked. “Why don’t we kill them? We kill other people who are running terrorist organizations against the United States. These guys have killed almost a thousand of us. Why don’t we kill them?”
“Iran would not look like the country it is today if they were concerned about the bottom line,” Gerecht told the panel. “So I don’t think that you’re going to really intimidate these people, get their attention, unless you shoot somebody – it’s pretty blunt, but I don’t think you get to get around it.”
If the IRGC-QF was held responsible for the foiled assassination plot, Gerecht said, then Soleimani should be held accountable – and targeted.
“Ghasem Soleimani travels a lot, he’s all over the place,” he said. “Go get him. Either try to capture him, or kill him. I think you have to send a pretty powerful message to those who have undertaken this, or I think down the road you’re asking for it. They will read this not as a response of someone who’s strong, but as a response of someone who’s weak.”
The organization says many of its 190 member countries “consider a red notice a valid request for provisional arrest, especially if they are linked to the requesting country via a bilateral extradition treaty.”
Interpol’s constitution prohibits “any intervention or activities of a political, military, religious or racial character.”
Following a failed assassination attempt on U.S. soil and current possession of a U.S. drone (which they refuse to give back), Iran isn’t trying very hard to maintain any type of diplomatic nicety.