Former Iranian armed forces chief of staff Hassan Firouzabadi, who accused Westerners of using lizards to spy on Iran, died of coronavirus at the age of 70, Iranian media reported.
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Major General Hossein Salami, Commander-in-Chief of the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological army of the Islamic Republic, praised the memory of Firouzabadi and his "
continued efforts
" in defense of the "
sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran,
”in a statement posted on Sepahnews, the Guardians website.
Chief of Staff from 1989 to 2016
A doctor by training (in nuclear medicine), Firouzabadi joined the Bassij (corps of Islamist volunteers) during the war with Iraq (1980-1988).
He quickly rose through the ranks in the administration of Basij and was appointed head of the armed forces staff in September 1989 by Supreme Guide Ali Khamenei.
He remained there until 2016 and ended his military career at the rank of major general.
The Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff has authority over both the national army and the Revolutionary Guards.
As such, Firouzabadi was one of the main architects of the Islamic Republic's military support to the governments of Baghdad and Damascus in their fight against the Islamic State (IS) group and other jihadist movements.
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When he was replaced by General Mohammad Hossein Baghéri at the head of the general staff, Firouzabadi became military adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a position he held until his death.
According to the Fars agency, Firouzabadi died after contracting Covid-19.
In February 2018, in the midst of the international controversy surrounding the death in prison of an academic and Iranian-Canadian environmental activist, Kavous Seyed Emami, found hanged in his cell, Firouzabadi accused the West of using lizards and chameleons "
as nuclear spies
"with the aim of"
locating the uranium mines as well as the
atomic
activities
"of Iran.
