Iran wants George W. Bush arrested

TEHRAN, July 6 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama should set an example and put his predecessor on trial, the chairman of the Iranian Joint Chiefs of Staff said Wednesday.

Iranian Maj. Gen. Hassan Firouzabadi said Wednesday that former U.S. President George W. Bush and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair should stand trial.

"The current president of the United States should be a pioneer in putting Bush and his criminal colleagues on trial," Firouzabadi was quoted by Iran's state-funded broadcaster Press TV as saying. "Otherwise, he will be named as a criminal along with Bush and Blair."

The Iranian general said the so-called Arab Spring was a sign that the hawkish foreign policies of the previous U.S. administration had failed.

Iranian lawmakers announced in May that they slapped 26 U.S. officials, including former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, with unspecified sanctions for alleged human rights violations.

Washington, meanwhile, has a longstanding policy in hitting Iranian companies with sanctions out of concern over Iran's nuclear program. The U.S. government and many of its allies claim Iran is using a civilian nuclear program to hide a weapons program.

Iran in June said it successfully fired 14 surface-to-surface missiles during military drills. Iranian commanders said Israel and U.S. bases in the Middle East are within range of the missiles.