US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters on Tuesday that any potential US military strike on selected targets in Iran will be conducted in accordance with international law
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th January, 2020) US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters on Tuesday that any potential US military strike on selected targets in Iran will be conducted in accordance with international law.
On Saturday, US President Donald Trump said the United States had identified 52 targets, including cultural sites, that would be struck if Iran retaliates for the killing of its top commander Qasem Soleimani.
"Every target that's being reviewed, every effort that is being made will always be made conducted inside the international laws," Pompeo said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said earlier that attacks on Iranian cultural sites is a violation of international law.
On Friday, Soleimani, the head of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' elite Quds Force, was killed in a US drone strike near Baghdad International Airport. Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of an Iraqi Shia militia group, was also killed in the strike.
The United States blamed Soleimani and al-Muhandis for organizing demonstrations at the US Embassy in Baghdad on December 31.
Trump said the strike was a preemptive, defensive move to prevent war. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has warned that Tehran will take revenge for what it views to be a heinous crime.
