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Iran will avenge the killing of a Revolutionary Guards colonel who was shot dead in Tehran, President Ebrahim Raisi warned on Monday.
Colonel Sayyad Khodai was killed Sunday outside his home by assailants on motorcycles. Iran blamed “elements linked to the global arrogance”, its term for the United States and Washington’s allies including Israel.
It was the most high-profile killing inside Iran since the November 2020 murder of top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.
Raisi said: “I insist on the serious pursuit (of the killers) by security officials, and I have no doubt that the blood of this great martyr will be avenged.
“There is no doubt that the hand of global arrogance can be seen in this crime,” he added, echoing what the Guards said the previous day.
He was speaking just ahead of visiting Oman, where he was to meet Sultan Haitham.
Khodai’s funeral was due to take place in Tehran at 5:00 pm local time (1230 GMT).
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps – the ideological arm of Iran’s military – described Khodai as a “defender of the sanctuary”, a term used for those who work on behalf of the Islamic republic in Syria or Iraq.
Iran maintains significant political influence in both countries, notably having backed President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria’s grinding civil war.
State television noted that Khodai was “known” in Syria, where Iran has acknowledged deploying “military advisers”.
Five bullets
The official news agency IRNA said Khodai was killed by five bullets as he returned home at around 4:00 pm on Sunday (1130 GMT).
The agency published pictures showing a man slumped over in the driver’s seat of a white car, with blood around the collar of his blue shirt and on his right arm. He was strapped in with his seat belt, and the front window on the passenger side had been shot out.
The Fars news…
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Source : france24
