Baghdad/Washington, DC: The Islamic Resistance in Iraq has reportedly announced a $10 million reward for the assassination of US president Donald Trump. It described this as a “curse” on the US president, saying it is in retaliation for his role in the killing of two senior resistance commanders.
Iran-owned Press TV has reported that the umbrella group of resistance factions said the reward had been raised through donations from its members and supporters.
The bounty is meant for anyone who kills Trump or for any individual, group, or institution designated to carry out the act, the group said.
Trump has been accused of publicly celebrating the killing of “victory commanders”, Major General Qasem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. The resistance described his “criminal boasting” as the “most obvious sign of the moral collapse of the US government.”
Soleimani, who headed Iran’s Quds Force, and al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, were killed in a US drone strike near Baghdad International Airport on January 3, 2020. The operation was carried out on Trump’s direct orders, as reported by Hindustan Times.
Trump’s “audacity” had only added to the “immortality of the pure blood” of the two martyrs while bringing “nothing but eternal disgrace and infamy” upon their killer, the group further said.
“Free people of the world will continue to pursue the killer of children and scientists,” it said, adding that the “oppressors will never see peace.”
This announcement came even as hostilities between the US and Iran resumed. The group has alleged that the conflict has been marked by repeated US violations of a fragile ceasefire and the collapse of a memorandum of understanding.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a key component of the Axis of Resistance, has also claimed responsibility for attacks targeting US military assets across the region during the conflict.
The US-led coalition, meanwhile, intercepted several drones over Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, according to Kurdish security forces.
Multiple drones flying over Erbil were seen before they were intercepted by air defence systems, according to news agency AFP.
The interceptions triggered explosions and sent plumes of smoke into the air near the US consulate, which had been repeatedly targeted by drone and rocket attacks during the Middle East war.
The reported drone attacks are the first near the US consulate in Erbil since a fragile ceasefire came into effect in April.
Kurdish counterterrorism forces said US-led anti-jihadist “coalition forces downed and destroyed eight explosive-laden drones over Erbil between 20:53 and 21:20 PM (1753 and 1620 GMT)”.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, and authorities said no casualties were reported.