Iran to ‘avenge’ Colonel of Guards killing’s: president
President Ebrahim Raisi warned on Monday that Iran will avenge the killing of a Revolutionary Guards colonel, who was shot dead in Tehran.
“I seriously insist on the pursuit (of the killers) by security officials, and I have no doubt that the blood of this great martyr will be avenged,” Raisi said.
Colonel Sayyad Khodai was shot dead outside his home Sunday by motorcycle assailants, in a murder that Iran has accused of “elements related to global arrogance”, its term for the United States and its allies, including Israel.
“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 saying just ahead of visiting Oman, where he will meet with Sultan Haitham.
Khodai’s funeral was due to take place in Tehran at 5:00 p.m. local time (1230 GMT).
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps the ideological component of Iran’s military conveyed Khodai as a “defender of the sanctuary,” a term employed for those who work on behalf of the Islamic republic in Syria or Iraq.
Iran holds significant political power in both countries, notably including backed President Bashar Assad’s government in Syria’s grinding civil war.
State television reported that Khodai was “famous” in Syria, where Iran has acknowledged deploying “military consultants.”
