Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Monday vowed to avenge the death of a senior Revolutionary Guard member who was slain in the heart of Tehran in a mysterious attack on the nation's powerful paramilitary force.
The official hailed Col. Hassan Sayyad Khodaei and called him a martyr while blaming "the hand of global arrogance" for his death. The term was a reference to the United States and its allies, including Israel, for the slaying of the guard member.
Slain Iranian Revolutionary Guard
Since the attack, there has been no claim of responsibility for the killing that was carried out on a Sunday afternoon by two unidentified gunmen riding a motorbike. The two suspects shot the Revolutionary Guard member five times in a car, an unarmored SAIPA Pride, which is among the cheapest, most-common Iranian vehicles.
However, the style of the brazen attack bore the hallmarks of previous slayings in Iran that authorities have blamed on Israel, including those that targeted the country's nuclear scientists. In a statement at the airport before leaving Tehran for a state visit to Oman, Raisi said that there was no doubt that revenge for the killing was assured, as per the Associated Press.
The Iranian president's remarks signaled Khodaei's prominence in the murky structure of the Revolutionary Guard which exerts extensive control inside Iran and across the Middle East. The Tehran city council also announced that it would name a street after the slain guard member, which is seen as another sign of Khodaei's power.
The Revolutionary Guard identified Khodaei as a "defender of the shrine," which is a reference to Iranians who fight against the extremist Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq within the elite Quds Force that oversees international operations. Iran's state-run IRNA news agency also described the slain member's role on Monday as "managing the advisory activities" of the Quds Force in the Levant region.
According to The Guardian, the slaying of Kahodaei is the highest-profile killing of an Iranian official since the violent death of top Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in November 2020. Raisi has called on a pursuit of the attackers, insisting that security officials capture the gunmen.
International Dispute
Iranian officials have claimed that they have arrested "Zionist agents" but offered no evidence or details. On the other hand, Israeli officials have not provided any official comment on the latest assassination. However, the news of the killing was carried widely by Israeli press, which linked Khodaei to an alleged plot to kidnap Israeli diplomats abroad.
It was previously claimed that the slain Revolutionary Guard was behind an attempt, which was recently uncovered, by Iranian operatives to lure Israeli academics, businesspeople, and former defense officials abroad and potentially kidnap them. The reports also said that he was behind an alleged plot to kill five Israelis in Cyprus.
An Iranian security source said that Khodaei played an important role in the country's military industry, especially regarding drones. The situation comes after former United States President Donald Trump tagged the Revolutionary Guard as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, the Times of Israel reported.
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