The U.S. has complained to senior Russian officials about the commander of the Iranian regime’s terrorist Quds Force recent trip to Moscow, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.
The U.S. will also raise its concerns at the United Nations and pursue the matter through the Security Council. U.S. officials said they believe IRGC Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, went to Russia in late July to meet officials there in violation of U.N. travel ban.
“We’ve raised this travel (concern) with senior Russian foreign ministry officials and we’re going to raise it and address it further in New York,” Mr. Toner said Wednesday.
The Wall Street Journal reported: “The complaint, and Gen. Soleimani’s trip, come at a sensitive time for the Obama administration. It is working to sell skeptical lawmakers on a nuclear agreement it reached with Iran and several other countries that it has said will prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon in exchange for relief from numerous sanctions. Many critics of the White House’s agreement have said Iranian officials cannot be trusted, and Gen. Soleimani’s trip to Russia despite his travel ban could further inflame critics.”
Soleimani has been subject to the travel ban and an asset freeze since 2007 because of his role in developing the Iranian regime’s illicit nuclear and ballistic-missile programs. The U.S. sanctioned him in 2005 for his role in supporting international terrorism, which bars him from doing business outside of Iran. U.S. officials view Gen. Soleimani as Iran’s top intelligence official who oversees Tehran’s support of militias and terrorist organizations in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon.
A Security Council resolution adopted in 2007 calls for a travel ban on General Suleimani and other officials of the Iranian regime because of their links to Tehran’s nuclear or ballistic missile programs.
“In 2011, the Treasury Department put him on its sanctions list after the Obama administration charged that he had been involved in a plot to kill Adel al-Jubeir, a former Saudi ambassador in Washington who is now Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister. The Treasury Department has also subjected him to sanctions for his role in Syria and for the Quds force’s support for the Taliban and other militant groups,” the New York Times reported.
“As the leader of Iran’s Quds force, he oversaw the training and equipping of Iraqi Shiite militias that attacked United States troops during the American occupation,” the report said.
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