TEHRAN, Jan. 1 (Xinhua) -- Iranian foreign minister said on Sunday that nearly 60 U.S. officials have been blacklisted by Tehran for their involvement in the assassination of top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani, semi-official Mehr news agency reported.
In a televised interview ahead of the third anniversary of the assassination of Soleimani, the former commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said Iran is investigating the U.S. assassination of the commander.
He stressed that the Americans and Westerners, however, are throwing a wrench into Iran's efforts to pursue the case legally, although Tehran has taken necessary measures.
During a recent round of the Vienna talks on the revival of a 2015 nuclear deal, the Americans demanded the removal of their former officials from Iran's blacklist, according to Amir-Abdollahian.
On Jan. 3, 2020, the U.S. military, at the order of then President Donald Trump, assassinated Soleimani and the deputy commander of Iraq's paramilitary Hashd Shaabi forces Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in a drone strike near Baghdad International Airport. The assassination was condemned by Iran as "state terrorism."
On Jan. 8, Iran responded to the assassination by launching missiles at the U.S. Ain al-Asad base in the Iraqi province of Anbar. ■
