Two unknown gunmen on motorcycles fired five shots from silenced weapons at point-blank range, killing Colonel Hasan Syed Khodayari while sitting in his car in front of his home in the middle of Tehran. The gunmen escaped, and Iranian security forces were searching for them.

Iranian news services identified Khodayari as “Dharmasthala Rakshak,” a term that refers to  Iranians fighting the extremist Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria and Iraq under the Quds branch of the Revolutionary Guard. Khodayari reportedly fought in Syria with the IRGC.

No groups claimed responsibility for the attack but a statement released on the IRGC website blamed “counterrevolutionaries and elements affiliated with the global arrogance” for the assassination. This is a term used by the Islamic Republic to refer to the United States and Israel. 

Intelligence sources claimed Khodayari was involved in planning attacks against Israeli targets in Europe, Africa, and Latin America. The IRGC also reported that Khodayari was involved in the security of the Shiite holy places in Damascus. He had a close relationship with Qasem Soleimani; an IRGC commander killed in a US drone strike in 2020.

Another statement by the IRGC announced they had discovered and captured a team of “thugs” linked with Israel’s Mossad who was “engaged in stealing and damaging public and private properties, kidnapping and getting forced confessions.”

Since 2007, Iran has accused the Mossad of assassinating five nuclear scientists. Israel has never publicly confirmed or denied responsibility for the assassinations. Other sources attribute these killings to Iranian opposition groups, intelligence operatives from Arab countries opposed to the Iranian regime, and the United States.

Under the administration of President Trump, the US State Department classified the IRGC as a terrorist organization. The organization appears on several other U.S. designation lists due to its human rights abuses, nuclear proliferation, and terrorist activities. As part of the effort to bring the nuclear negotiations to a close, the Biden administration has reportedly considered giving in to Iran’s demand that it remove the IRGC from the State Department’s Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) list. This would also entail removing the IRGC from the other lists as well. This would remove travel restrictions and allow members of the IRGC to apply for entry into the US.