Soleimani killing: Iran announces more sanctions on US leaders

Iran has announced sanctions against scores of American leaders, placing them on a register of people Tehran claims were involved in the killing of Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani in Iraq in 2020.

There were 51 US nationals put on the register, Al Jazeera English reported on Saturday.

Those hit by Tehran's move include Mark Milley, Washington's top armed forces officer and Kenneth McKenzie, military chief for the US' Middle East operations.

Joining them are Department of Defense figures and military leaders at US outposts across the Middle East.

The measures are more gesture than substance since it is not believed those on the list maintain interests in Iran that the government there could take.

The sanctions follow similar 2021 restrictions placed on ten Americans including President Donald Trump and Mike Pompeo, his equivalent of a foreign minister, for alleged involvement in Soleimani's death.

Tehran also attempted to have them arrested using global policing body Interpol.

The second anniversary of the slaying of Iran's most-senior general was on Monday.

"If our problem is not resolved, we will shut down the justice system!" the demonstrators chanted.https://t.co/oYWibTMlMI

— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) January 9, 2022

That day, Ebrahim Raisi, Iran's ultraconservative president, promised vengeance "[i]f Trump and Pompeo are not tried in a fair court".

The Islamic Republic's military on Friday showed off rockets developed domestically that it claimed had been employed when it hit back over Soleimani's death in 2020.

Explosives were fired at two sites used by the US in Iraq, injuring 110 American soldiers.