Thousands of mourners poured into the streets of Tehran on Tuesday to demand revenge and pay their respects to a senior Revolutionary Guard member fatally shot by two gunmen on a motorcycle earlier this week in an attack Iran attributed to Israel.
The killing on Sunday of Col. Hassan Sayyad Khodaei bore the hallmarks of previous deadly shooting attacks Iran blamed on Israel, such as those targeting the country's nuclear scientists, though no one has claimed of responsibility for the attack.
Iranian officials have blamed "global arrogance," which is code for the United States and Israel, for the killing of Khodaei, whose funeral procession snaked through the main Tehran cemetery as mourners shouted anti-U.S. and anti-Israel slogans.
A prominent poster hailed Khodaei as a martyr along with Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the top Iranian general killed in a U.S. drone strike in 2020 in Iraq, and featured tattered Israeli, American and British flags.
"Iran is a victim of terrorism," the banner declared, overlaid with the logos of the Mossad and Central Intelligence Agency.
Guard commander Gen. Hossein Salami as well as Gen. Esmail Ghaani, leader of Iran's expeditionary Quds Force, attended the funeral.
Ghaani also offered condolences at Khodaei's home on Monday night. Iran's nuclear negotiator visited the scene, underscoring the government's shock. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi vowed revenge. A street in Tehran has already been named after the colonel.
The 50-year-old Khodaei remains a shadowy figure, and Iran has yet to offer biographic detail beyond saying that he was a member of the elite Quds Force that oversees operations abroad through Iran's allied militias across the Middle East. The Guard has described him as "defender of the shrine" a reference to Iranians who support militias fighting the extremist Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq.
The manner of the slaying evoked previous targeted attacks by Israel in Iran. In November 2020, a top Iranian nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, was killed while traveling in a car outside Tehran.
"We want revenge only," Moghtaderi, one of the mourners, told The Associated Press at the funeral. She gave only her last name. "Enemies must be aware that we are loyal to the martyrs and their blood is so precious to us."
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Servants of the holy shrine of Imam Reza carry the coffin of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh
(Photo: Reuters )
Iranian security forces are still pursuing the assailants, who escaped, state media reported. Authorities have yet to make any arrests over the killing.
The procession took place as a sandstorm blanketed Iran, shuttering schools and government offices in the capital.
Meanwhile in the country's central desert, a fighter jet crashed during a training exercise, killing two pilots, state media reported. Reports did not identify the cause of the crash at the Anarak training site near the central city of Isfahan. An investigation was underway.