Iran officials vow ‘harsh’ revenge for assassination of IRGC member

The chief commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has warned that Iran will take a “harsh” revenge on those who assassinated a member of the force in Tehran on Sunday.

"Our reactions will be harsh and we will definitely make the enemy regret" its action, Major General Hossein Salami warned in a ceremony in the southwestern Iranian city of Khorramshahr on Monday.

Colonel Hassan Sayyad Khodaei was assassinated by two motorcyclists who shot him five times before fleeing the scene on Sunday. He was dismounting his car to enter his home in an eastern neighborhood of the Iranian capital when three bullets hit him in the head and two bullets in the hand.

“Everyone knows that the Iranian nation and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps will avenge the blood of all their loved ones,” Gen. Salami said.

“Revenge for the blood of these loved ones will be harsh and revenge for his blood will be taken. No evil act of the enemy will go unanswered and we will freeze the enemy in his aspirations.”

The IRGC issued a statement soon after the assassination, saying that its former member was assassinated in a terrorist attack by counterrevolutionary elements.

The statement condoled with his family, adding that necessary measures have been taken to identify and arrest the assailant or assailants.

Terrorists will get a taste of their own medicine for assassinating IRGC member: Spokesman

Iran’s IRGC says foreign-sponsored rogue elements and terrorists will pay dearly for assassinating Colonel Hassan Sayyad Khodaei.

Assassination not to go unanswered

Major General Mohammad Baqeri, the chairman of the Chiefs of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, also said the assassination will not go unanswered.

“The assassination of this great martyr is a sign of the despicability and humiliation of the false claimants of human rights, and their desperate efforts to cover up their disgraceful defeats against the Resistance Front,” Baqeri noted.

Iran's top general also wished steadfastness for Sayyad Khodaei’s family and his honorable comrades in continuing the path of martyrs.

Iran to exhaust intl. capacities to identify assassins

Ali Bagheri Kani, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister, condemned in a post on his Twitter handle the assassination of Sayyad Khodaei, saying the Islamic Republic will use all its international capacities to bring the assassins to justice.

“Tonight I had the honor to visit the place where Islamic Iran combatant Sayyad Khodaei embraced martyrdom. Terrorism is as much reprehensible as silence towards it. Iran shall exhaust international capacities to identify, prosecute and punish its instigators and perpetrators,” Bagheri Kani wrote.

Earlier Monday, President Ebrahim Raeisi said "the global arrogance" is behind the terrorist act, vowing “definite revenge” for the blood of the martyr.

Raeisi called on Iran's judicial authorities to seriously follow up on the assassination, underlining that revenge is certain against those who perpetrated the criminal act.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk