Senior Revolutionary Guard Member Assassinated In Iran
By Donald Standeford, Correspondent - Follow -
Date Published: May 22, 2022 11:45PM UTC
Last Modified: May 22, 2022 11:45PM UTC
IRAN - Colonel Hassan Sayad Khodayari, senior Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Force member who had taken part in plotting the attacks of Jews and Israelis around the world has been assassinated by two gunmen on motorcycles in broad daylight in Tehran, the capital of Iran outside of his home.
Hassan Sayad Khodayari was shot five times while sitting in his unarmored vehicle, with the Iranian IRGC saying that the assassination is a "criminal terrorist act of the counter-revolution and elements of global arrogance" which are often used in reference to the United States and Israel.
Not long after the assassination occurred, the IRGC announced that it had arrested "to have arrested some of the plotters", which they called a "thug network" associated with Israel's national intelligence agency Mossad, but did not provide any other details.
Israeli media reported that the assassination was a "carefully coordinated operation". The Jerusalem Post and Walla News reported that Khodayari was driving his car near his home on Mahadi al-Islam Street in Tehran at around 1600 local time when two assailants who were riding a motorcycle approached his vehicle, "rapidly closing the gap between them and Khodayari".
The assailants reportedly fired five shots at Khodayari in point-blank range with weapons equipped with silencers, "killing him instantly". The assassins fled and were "no where to be seen" after which a manhunt was commenced.
The IRNA posted a video with a man inside his vehicle still strapped in with his seatbelt on slumped over and the front passenger side window shot out. The slumped over man had blood around the collar of his shirt and upper right arm.
The ISNA news agency reported after that the IRGC had exposed and arrested a network of Israeli intelligence agents. The IRGC stated that, "In accordance with the Zionist regime's intelligence service instructions, the network tried to steal and destroy public and personal equipment, hijack and obtain false confessions through a network of thugs".
Khodayari, a senior officer in the IRGC had been involved in attempts to kidnap and assassinate Israelis in Cyprus, Turkey and Columbia, according to N12 news who cited Iranian sources.
The IRGC also reported that Khodayari had been involved in carrying out security of the Shiite holy places in Damascus and had a close relationship with Qasem Soleimani, who was an IRGC commander that had been killed during a US airstrike that occured in 2020.
