Status: 05/22/2022 11:48 p.m
In Iran, a colonel of the Revolutionary Guards is said to have been killed in an assassination attempt. Two strangers opened fire on the man from a motorcycle, the Revolutionary Guards report.
A senior member of the Revolutionary Guards has been 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 Guards 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 when he returned home. Khodai was a “defender of the sanctuary,” 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 providing any further details. Iran is a key ally of ruler Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian civil war.
Israel has been considered a deadly 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 Zionist regime’s (Israel) secret service”. They were involved in a range of crimes, including “robbery, kidnapping and vandalism.” The Israeli prime minister’s office, which is responsible for the Mossad intelligence service, declined to comment on the events in Tehran.
The attack is reminiscent of attacks on Iranian nuclear scientists in November 2020, which were also committed from motorcycles. In Iran, Israel has been blamed for these attacks. Israel has been considered Iran’s archenemy since the Islamic revolution of 1979. Again and again there are reports of the arrests, arrests and executions of alleged agents who are accused of cooperation with the Mossad or the US foreign intelligence service CIA. As a rule, the Iranian information cannot be independently verified.