Status: 05/22/2022 23:48
In Iran, a Revolutionary Guard colonel was reportedly killed in an assassination attempt. The Revolutionary Guard reports that two strangers opened fire on the man from a motorcycle.
A senior member of the Revolutionary Guard was shot dead outside his home in Tehran. Colonel Sajjad Khodai was killed in an armed attack by two motorcyclists on a street in the Iranian capital, the Revolutionary Guard said on its website. They blamed “elements with ties to global arrogance” for the “terrorist” act – a reference to the US and its allies, including Israel.
According to the official IRNA news agency, Khodai was killed by five bullets as he returned home. Khodai was a “defender of the shrine”, the Revolutionary Guards said. This term is used for Iranians who are active on behalf of the state in Syria or Iraq. Iranian state television said Khodai was “known” in Syria, without elaborating. Iran is a key ally of ruler Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian civil war.
Israel has been considered a mortal enemy since 1979
A few hours before the attack on Khodai, the Revolutionary Guards announced that they had arrested a group of “criminals linked to the secret service of the Zionist regime (Israel)”. They were involved in a number of crimes, including “theft, kidnapping and vandalism”. The Israeli prime minister’s office, responsible for the Mossad intelligence service, declined to comment on the events in Tehran.
The attack recalls the attacks on Iranian nuclear scientists in November 2020, which were also committed from motorcycles. In Iran, Israel was blamed for these attacks. Israel has been considered the arch-enemy of Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Again and again there are reports of arrests, arrests and executions of alleged agents who are accused of cooperating with the Mossad or the US foreign intelligence service CIA. As a rule, Iranian information cannot be independently verified.