Getty
Qassem Soleimani (L) and a US Army soldier (R.)
- Iran's parliament voted to class the entire US military and Department of Defense as terrorist organizations on Tuesday.
- An amendment to a bill on US countermeasures said that "commanders" and "authorities having a role in" the killing of Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike on Friday were also terrorists.
- The amendment was passed unanimously, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
- In April 2019, the Trump administration classified the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization.
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Iranian lawmakers unanimously voted to class the entire US military and Department of Defense as terrorist organizations on Tuesday.
Iran's parliament added an emergency amendment to the bill on "US countermeasures" to include the entire US Department of Defense, the Islamic Republic News Agency and the Tasnim News Agency reported.
The bill was previously amended in April 2019 to designate US Central Command as a terrorist organization.
The amendment bill passed on Tuesday also stated that "commanders" and "authorities having a role in Maj. Gen. Soleimani's assassination" are terrorists as well.
The move comes four days after the US killed one of Iran's most senior military figures, Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the revered commander of the Quds Force, in an air strike in Iraq on Friday morning.
Associated Press
A boy carries a portrait of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in the U.S. airstrike in Iraq, prior to the Friday prayers in Tehran, Iran, Friday Jan. 3, 2020.
In April 2019, the Trump administration classified the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization. The Quds Force, an elite faction of the IRGC, has been designated a terrorist organization by the US for over a decade.
On Saturday, Donald Trump said the US would target a number of sites "important to Iran and the Iranian culture" if Iran chose to attack the US in turn.
Reuters
Funeral procession for Major-General Soleimani and commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in Tehran.
"The US has proved, once again, to everybody, its total, blatant disregard for the jus cogens in international law as well as for universally-recognized rights and immunities," Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in response during a speech in Tehran on Tuesday.
"This is the same schizophrenic approach that repugnantly threatens, in contravention of international law, to strike Iran's cultural sites which are part of the shared human cultural and civilizational heritage."
As part of the amendment on Tuesday, the Iranian government will provide the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) with $224 million before April 2020 "to strengthen the defense power of the forces."
Soleimani's funeral procession has taken place over several days, with Iranian state TV claiming millions took to the streets to remember him.
Soleimani is to be buried in Kerman, his hometown, on Tuesday. Iranian state TV reported that 35 people were killed during a stampede as scores of people took to the streets to commemorate him.