IRAN and Iraq issued a joint statement today on the “criminal and terrorist” assassinations of Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani and Popular Mobilisation Forces deputy head Mahdi al-Muhandis.

The two nations condemned last year’s killings as a “violation of the rules of international law, including relevant international conventions on the fight against terrorism.”

According to senior Iranian judiciary official Kazem Gharibabadi, they remain determined to “identify, prosecute and punish all those involved in deciding, planning and implementing this criminal act.”