Dramatic elimination in Iran: The media reported today (Sunday) that assassins on a motorcycle shot dead a senior officer of the Revolutionary Guards in Tehran who was serving in the Quds Force in Syria. According to reports in Iran, two assassins riding a motorcycle shot the senior officer five times while sitting in his car near his house on Mujahideen-i-Islam Street in eastern Tehran around four in the afternoon. The suspects managed to escape and it was reported that a manhunt was underway.
The Revolutionary Guards confirmed that the assassinated officer was Akid (Colonel) Hassan Ziad Khadayari and blamed the “enemies of the revolution and global arrogance-related elements,” a nickname for the United States and Israel. Was one of the aides to the previous commander of the Quds Force, Qassem Suleimani, who was assassinated in January 2020.
The assassination of Khoudiari is considered the biggest security breach of the Iranian security system after the assassination of the chief Iranian nuclear scientist, Fahrizadeh. The security connection is likely to be more related to Iran’s establishment in Syria of ties with Hezbollah and the militias acting on its behalf in the Middle East and less to the nuclear program. This of course without knowing who or what is behind the elimination.
Simultaneously with the report of the assassination, the Revolutionary Guards announced that a “network of thugs linked to the intelligence service of the Zionist regime had been exposed.” According to them, the suspects “stole and destroyed private and public property, abducted and obtained false confessions.” Earlier in the day, a spokesman for the Revolutionary Guards, Brigadier General Ramadan Sheriff, admitted that Iran was dealing with activities attributed to Israel in its territory, including espionage and assassinations. “We are informing these people that we will not tolerate the presence of strongholds of the Zionist entity near us,” Sheriff said, threatening in response “severe and trembling to every evil step that has come from these people.”