Iran wants Interpol to arrest Trump

The arrest warrant, issued by Iran, seeks to detain not only Trump, but those who were involved in the drone strike that took out Soleimani in Baghdad in January of this year.

Prosecutor Ali Alqasimehr issued the warrant from Tehran, and it did not contain names other than that of the US president. It did note, however, that these charges would not end with Trump's presidency, but that he would remain a wanted man even after his term of office ends.

Alqasimehr said that the request of Interpol was to issue a "red notice". While Interpol has not yet commented on the matter, a "red notice" would be the "highest-level notice issued" by the agency.

This would mean that Trump would be arrested locally, at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, in Washington DC, on behalf of the Iranian government in Tehran. It would both force extradition, and limit travel.

Upon receipt of the request, Interpol would meet to sort out whether or not the agency would honour it. It is unlikely to do so in this situation. Interpol, however, has internal guidance that makes it impossible for them to commence "undertaking any intervention of activities of a political" sort.

It was earlier this month that Iran convicted Mahmoud Mousavi Majd for espionage on behalf of the CIA. He has been sentenced to execution. His conviction was for spying, "especially on the Quds Force and on the whereabouts and movements of martyr General Qassem Soleimani". For this he is alleged to have received a great deal of money from both the CIA and Israel's Mossad. This is as per Gholanhonnein Esmaili, an Iranian judiciary spokesman.

The US killed Soleimani via drone strike on January 3, and that is an accomplishment Trump has touted from the campaign trail. In addition to Soleimani, six others were killed. These included Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who was the deputy commander of the Popular Mobilization Forces, which is a militia operating in Iraq, backed by Iran.

While Majd's execution will reportedly be "soon," the information he is alleged to have provided has not been directly correlated to Soleimani's killing, and there are doubts as to how Majd would have known Soleimani's travel plans. Another man, Amir Rahimpour, was convicted of espionage for US interests in Iran in February, with regard to Iran's nuclear program.

Additional Iranians were arrested by Tehran in December, accused of being "linked to the CIA" and fomenting massive protests. These protests were as a result of an increase in fuel prices. Last summer, Tehran used the concept of CIA backed espionage to arrest 17 suspected spies, and executed some of them as well.

Speaking on the killing of Soleimani in January, Trump said "we took action last night to stop a way. We did not take action to start a war."