On Tuesday, thousands of men and women attended the funeral of Sayyad Khodai, an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps colonel who was killed outside his home on Sunday, shouting slogans condemning the United States and Israel, AFP reported.
Guards mourned Khudai as a “martyr” after gunmen on a motorcycle shot him five times while in a car near his home in eastern Tehran, blaming elements linked to “global arrogance” referring to the United States and its allies. . led by Israel, a sworn enemy of the Islamic Republic. The Guard confirmed that Sayyad Khudai was one of the “defenders of the shrines (protectors of the sanctuary)” – a term used to refer to its members who performed tasks in the conflicts in Syria and Iraq. Tehran confirms the presence of its armed forces in consultative status both in Iraq to counter “takfiri” elements, especially ISIS, and in Syria to support the forces of President Bashar al-Assad in the face of armed groups in conflict in his country since 2011.
Today, state television reported that Sayyad Khodai was a member of the Quds Force tasked with overseas operations as part of the Guard and that he was born in 1972 in East Azerbaijan Province in northwestern Iran.
As of 0830 Tuesday (0400 GMT), thousands of Iranians had gathered at Imam Hussein Square in central Tehran to take part in the funeral ceremony, which began with the national anthem and recitation of the Quran, and was punctuated by songs sung in praise of the defenders of the shrines killed at the previous stages. The funeral was attended by military leaders, including the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hossein Salami, and the commander of the Quds Force, Brigadier General Ismail Qaani.
And a prayer for the dead was offered for the body of Tehran on Friday Friday of Imam Kazem Siddiqi, before it was transported aboard a military vehicle bearing his image, from Imam Hussein Square to Martyrs’ Square near the site of his assassination. The mourners accompanied the coffin, wrapped in the Iranian flag, and many rushed to touch it with great excitement. Mourners chanted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” and some held up banners reading “I am Hussein.”
Mourners carried photographs of Sayyad Khodai in military uniform, while others carried photographs of the victims of the “Holy Defensive War”, i.e. the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988).
Signs reading “Revenge of Sahta” (“Severe Revenge”) were also raised along the path of the march with coffins, along with a photograph of Major General Qasem Soleimani, the former commander of the Quds Force, who was killed by an American airstrike on Baghdad in early 2020. Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi confirmed on Monday the imminent retaliation for the assassination, which is the most notable reported persecution of an Iranian figure in the Islamic Republic since 2020, when prominent nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was killed. Tehran accused Israel of carrying out the operation. State television said Sayyad Khudai, who hails from the city of Mayane in East Azerbaijan Province, will be buried in Martyrs’ Corner at the Behesht Zahra (Jannat al-Zahra) cemetery in southern Tehran.
