Colonel Khodayari participated in the external operations of the Revolutionary Guards.
Correspondent in Jerusalem
Iranian Colonel Hassan Sayad Khodayari, 50, was killed Sunday outside his home on a street in a residential area of Tehran. He was driving when two armed men on motorcycles approached his vehicle and opened fire. State media released photos from the crime scene, showing a collapsed man behind the wheel of a Kia. A targeted assassination attributed by Iran to Israel.
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On Tuesday, the funeral of the senior member of the Revolutionary Guard Corps took on particular importance due to the presence of the commanders of this organization and of the al-Quds Force, Tehran’s special services responsible for secret operations outside Iranian territory. . Thousands of people filled the streets around the cemetery chanting » death to israel ! and calling for revenge. » We will make the enemy regret it and none of his evil deeds will go unanswered said General Hossein Salami, the head of the Revolutionary Guards. Israel has not officially reacted, but this Thursday theNew York Times revealed that Israeli authorities informed US officials that they were behind the killing.
The Israelis reportedly told their ally that the operation was a warning for Tehran to put an end to the actions of a group within the al-Quds Force called « Unit 840 ». It would be responsible for terrorist attacks and kidnappings of Israeli civilian or military personalities. Colonel Khodayari has allegedly been implicated over the past two years in attempted attacks in the Middle East as well as in Colombia, Kenya, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates and Cyprus. The investigation ofNew York Times specifies, according to anonymous Iranian sources, that this former adviser to General Qassem Soleimani, the head of external military operations killed by an American strike in Baghdad in January 2020, was a logistics expert and played a crucial role in the transport of technology for drones and missiles to Iranian fighters in Syria and to the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.
shadow war
This new episode of the shadow war that the two countries have been waging for years on land, but also at sea, in the air or in cyberspace, comes as negotiations to relaunch the 2015 nuclear agreement Iranian trample. One of the points of disagreement concerns the designation of the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist group by the United States. Iran demands the removal of this ranking but Joe Biden refuses.
Israel has a habit of assassinating scientists or nuclear targets inside Iran via commandos. In 2020, he eliminated the country’s main nuclear researcher and deputy defense minister, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, on a road, using a robotic cannon remotely controlled by artificial intelligence, presumably from the Jewish state.
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This time, the murder seems linked to other considerations. Incredible, according to the Israeli media, the plan targeting Colonel Khodayari dates back to July 2021. It was at this time that Mossad agents allegedly kidnapped and then released an Iranian hitman working for him. According to renowned Israeli analyst Yossi Melman, he confessed to a plot to eliminate an Israeli diplomat, a French journalist and an American general.
A case made public in early May by the Persian news channel Iran International, based in London and sponsored by Saudi Arabia. The leak was intended to impress on Iran that Israel has the ability to penetrate deep into Iranian security circles.
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