An arrest warrant was issued Thursday for outgoing US President Donald Trump in connection with the killing of an Iranian general and a powerful Iraqi militia leader last year, Iraq's judiciary said, AP reported.

The warrant was issued by a judge in Baghdad's investigative court tasked with probing the Washington-directed drone strike that killed General Qassim Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the court's media office said. They were killed outside the capital’s airport last January.

The arrest warrant was for a charge of premeditated murder, which carries the death penalty on conviction.

The decision to issue the warrant "was made after the judge recorded the statements of the claimants from the family of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis,” according to a statement from the Supreme Judicial Council. The investigation into the killings is ongoing, the court said.