Iran said Friday, June 3 that an investigation was underway to determine the cause of the death, which occurred "
a few days ago
", of a member of the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological army of the Islamic Republic, according to the official press agency, dismissing the thesis of an "
assassination
".
Read alsoIran: a colonel of the Revolutionary Guards “murdered” in Tehran
"
A member of the Revolutionary Guards died a few days ago in an accident in his house
", indicated the Irna agency, citing "
an informed source
", without further details.
An investigation has been opened to determine the cause of death, the agency added, saying it was not a "
murder
".
Iranian opposition media based abroad claimed on Thursday evening that a commander of the Quds Force, the unit in charge of external operations within the Revolutionary Guards, Colonel Ali Esmailzadeh, was assassinated in Karaj , near Tehran.
"Known" in Syria
On May 22, Colonel of the Guards Sayyad Khodai, 50, was shot and killed by two motorcyclists as he was returning home in the east of the capital Tehran.
A member of the Quds Force, he was "
known
" in Syria, a country at war where Iran is helping the regime of Bashar al-Assad militarily, according to Iranian state television.
Read alsoIran: Washington will maintain sanctions against the Revolutionary Guards even in the event of a nuclear agreement
On Monday, Iran accused the "
Zionists
" of killing him, days after Israel told the New York Times that the United States was responsible for the murder of this important Guardian officer.
In official Iranian discourse, the term "Zionists" refers to Israelis, but sometimes also to countries and individuals who support the State of Israel.
Iranians use the term "
Zionist regime
" to refer specifically to the Israeli state.
The Guardians are on the US blacklist of "
foreign terrorist organizations
".