US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday that Washington refutes UN Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard's recent report that found the deadly US drone attack on Iran's military commander Qasem Soleimani in Iraq illegal
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th July, 2020) US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday that Washington refutes UN Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard's recent report that found the deadly US drone attack on Iran's military commander Qasem Soleimani in Iraq illegal.
Callamard issued the report on targeted killings through armed drones on Tuesday. It argued that the United States' drone strike that killed Soleimani was "unlawful" and conducted with insufficient evidence of an imminent threat to justify it. According to the human rights activist, the United States used self-defense as justification for an attack on foreign soil, thus violating Iraq's sovereignty. Callamard also reported that no evidence had been provided that Soleimani was planning an attack against the United States, as it was claimed by Washington.
"We reject the UN Special Rapporteur's spurious report on targeted killings through armed drones in the case of Iranian General Quassem Soleimani. The United States has been transparent regarding the international law basis for the strike and will always act to protect America," Pompeo wrote on Twitter.
Iran's top general was killed in a US drone strike near the Baghdad airport on January 3. US President Donald Trump has justified the killing by saying that Iran was plotting an attack on four US embassies, including in Baghdad. US Defense Secretary Mark Esper, in turn, has claimed that Trump never cited any specific evidence that proved those four embassies were under threat of an Iranian attack. However, the Pentagon chief suggested Iran "probably" had a plan to strike the facilities.
Iran responded to the killing with limited missile strikes on two bases in Iraq housing US soldiers. Initially, the White House and Pentagon said that no one was hurt, but the latter eventually admitted that there had been victims and proceeded to increase the count several times.
