Today, Monday, Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi said that his country will avenge the killing of Revolutionary Guards Colonel Hassan Sayyad Khadayi on Sunday at the hands of unknown persons in Tehran, while the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation stated that there is a state of alert in Israel’s representations around the world in anticipation of Iran’s retaliation.
"I asked the security officials to seriously pursue the perpetrators of this crime, and I have no doubts that revenge for the pure blood of our martyr is inevitable," the Iranian president added, in statements before heading to the Sultanate of Oman.
Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi said, in a statement today, that a joint committee of the security and military agencies was formed to follow up the investigations into the assassination of Colonel Sayyad Khadayi.
accusation of israel
A spokesman for the Revolutionary Guards accused what he called "terror agents linked to Israel's intelligence" of targeting Colonel Khadayi, who previously participated in the war in Syria.
The guards said in a statement that the colonel was subjected to an assassination attack near his home on Mujahideen Islam Street in Tehran, where two people shot him from a motorcycle at Khodayi's car, then fled, while the security forces began a wide campaign to search for the attackers.
Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted the Revolutionary Guards as saying that Khodaye was "one of the defenders of the holy shrines," a reference to military personnel and advisors that Iran says are fighting on its behalf to protect Shiite sites in Iraq and Syria from groups such as the Islamic State.
A spokesman for the Revolutionary Guards accused what he called "terror agents linked to Israeli intelligence" of targeting Colonel Khadayi, who previously participated in the war in Syria.
A spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Abu al-Fadl Shakarji, told local media that "the dimensions of this assassination are under investigation."
Silence Tel Aviv
On the other hand, the office of the Israeli Prime Minister, which oversees the intelligence agency (Mossad), refused to comment on the assassination of Colonel Khadayi, while Israeli media said that Khadayi was leading a unit of the Quds Force, which carries out operations abroad for the Revolutionary Guard, whose mission is to plan attacks on Israelis abroad.
The Israeli radio reported that the colonel who was liquidated in Tehran was involved in what it described as terrorist operations against Israeli targets in Turkey, Cyprus, Colombia and Kenya, as it put it.
And the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reported - today, Monday - that Israel is taking into account the possibility of Iran's response to the assassination of Colonel Khadayi, and added that "there is a state of alert in Israel's representations around the world."
Khodayei's killing is the most prominent assassination of a public figure inside Iran since the assassination of Fakhrizadeh, a prominent nuclear scientist and deputy defense minister on November 27, 2020, which Tehran accused Tel Aviv of being behind his assassination.
cell disassembly
In conjunction with the news of the assassination of Colonel Khadaei, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards said on Sunday that it had dismantled a cell linked to Israel and the Mossad and arrested its members.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard said that what it called "an intelligence service in the Zionist entity" directed this cell to carry out kidnappings and sabotage.
And Iranian Revolutionary Guards spokesman, Brigadier General Ramadan Sharif, said Saturday that Iran will respond firmly and destructively if it is proven that Israel committed any evil act against it anywhere, as he put it.
Sharif added - in his speech - that Israel has officially announced that it will attack Iranian interests, and that it continues to expose our vital headquarters and assassinate our personalities.
He stressed that Iran will not accept the presence of any Israeli headquarters near its territory, and will work to preserve its security and national interests.