Former Pentagon translator Mariam Thompson admitted to trying to convey information about the assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani by the American military to the Lebanese paramilitary Shiite movement Hezbollah. The US Department of Justice announced this on Friday, March 26 on its website.
As explained in the department, in January, after the death of Soleimani, Thompson, who worked at an unnamed Pentagon base abroad, was contacted by an unknown person who introduced himself as a Hezbollah representative and asked for assistance. Presumably he was an informant for the American intelligence services.
At his request, the translator was able to access data on at least 10 sources of American intelligence, including their names, photographs and reports. After passing the information to her contact, she was invited to a meeting with the Hezbollah military commander. Thompson was ultimately arrested on February 27, 2020.
It is noted that the woman faces life imprisonment, despite the fact that she pleaded guilty.
Soleimani was killed in Iraq on January 3, 2020 in an American air raid on Baghdad airport. He commanded the Al-Quds special unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which organizes operations of the Iranian armed forces abroad. In 2019, Washington recognized the IRGC as a terrorist group.
The Pentagon said after the general’s assassination that the attack was authorized by Trump “to protect US personnel overseas.” The US Department of Justice called this murder legitimate, considering it self-defense.