Iran’s Revolutionary Guard colonel is shot dead outside his home in Tehran — as the country’s regime blames the United States and its allies for “assassination.”
- Colonel Hassan Sayyad Khodaei was shot dead in his car in front of his home in Tehran
- Two attackers on a motorcycle opened fire on the Revolutionary Guards
- The Guard blamed “global arrogance” for the attack – alluding to the US and Israel
- The Israeli prime minister’s office declined to comment on the events in Tehran
A senior member of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard was shot dead in his car outside his home in Tehran today by unknown gunmen riding a motorcycle, state television reported.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards said one of their officers, Colonel Hassan Sayyad Khodaei, was the victim of the rare assassination.
The two attackers fired five times at Khodaei in his unarmored Iran-made Kia Pride, sources said.
Reports only identified Khodaei as a “defender of the shrine” — a reference to Iranians in the Guard’s elite Kuds Force overseeing foreign operations. The semi-official ISNA news agency reported that members of an Israeli intelligence network were spotted by the guards and arrested.
Though the guard gave scant details about the attack, the group attributed the killing to “global arrogance” — a code usually used to refer to the United States and Israel.
There was no direct admission of responsibility for the attack, and the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office declined to comment on the events in Tehran.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards said one of their officers, Colonel Hassan Sayyad Khodaei, was shot dead five times outside his home in Iran
Reports identified Khodaei (pictured) only as a “defender of the shrine” – a reference to Iranians in the Guard’s elite Quds Force overseeing foreign operations
Little information was publicly available about Khodaei as Quds officers tend to conduct clandestine military missions in support of Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group, and other militias in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere.
Tehran’s prosecutor arrived at the scene within hours of the murder to investigate and urged the police to arrest the perpetrators urgently.
The probe’s speed suggested that Khodaei figured prominently in the murky fabric of the Guard’s overseas operations.
Shots were fired through the window of Colonel Khodei’s car in front of his house
These operations have been subject to repeated Israeli airstrikes in Syria. An Israeli attack near the Syrian capital Damascus in March killed two Guardsmen, prompting Iran to retaliate by firing rockets into northern Iraq.
Security forces pursued the suspected attackers, state television reported, without giving any further details or stating a motive for the killing.
Around the same time, state media said Revolutionary Guard security forces had uncovered and arrested members of an Israeli intelligence network operating in the country, without specifying whether they had any connection to Khodaei’s assassination.