Israel remains firmly opposed to reviving the JCPOA nuclear talks. By angering Iran and keeping tensions in the region high, it hopes to sabotage negotiations
At around 1 p.m. on Sunday, Sayyad Khadi, a colonel in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, was parking his car outside his home when two men on a motorbike approached and opened fire, killing him.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards identified only Khedi as a “defender of the shrine” – attributed to those who went to Syria and fought Islamic State (IS) fighters who were threatening Shiite holy shrines.
Sabreen News, which is close to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, described Khadi as a member of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards, the foreign arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
The spokesman for the Iranian armed forces, General Abolfazl Shukrji, accused the United States and Israel of being behind the assassination, describing them as “the center of planning and policy-making for terrorist acts in the world.”
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi lamented Khadi’s death, blamed “the hands of global arrogance” for his death, and vowed revenge.
“I insist on the serious pursuit (of the killers) by security officials, and I have no doubts that the blood of this great martyr will be avenged,” Raisi said.
Abdullah Ganji, former editor-in-chief of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Javan newspaper, tweeted that “the kind of mission this martyr undertook in Syria points the finger at the Zionists with their assassination,” possibly referring to reports that Khadi had a major role in transferring Iranian relations. . weapons for Syria.
The Israeli Air Force repeatedly attacked Iranian positions in Syria and convoys on their way to Lebanon.
Meanwhile, some observers in Iran believe the assassination was in response to the revival of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, a year-old deal that placed limits on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. In 2009, President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from the deal.
In the past year, Iran and the United States have been engaged in indirect talks to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The deal is nearing completion, but Tehran and Washington have reached an impasse over the issue of including the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ name on the list of US foreign terrorist organizations.
To break the stalemate, the European Union has proposed a “middle way,” according to which the IRGC would be taken off the list and the Quds Force added instead.
In this context, Enrique Mora, the European Union’s chief nuclear negotiator, traveled to Iran two weeks ago. The European Union later described talks with Iran as “positive enough” to reopen the stalled nuclear negotiations after two months of deadlock.