Iran: Four IRGC commanders dead in a week; Opposition hints involvement
Iranian Opposition’s implied involvement in deaths of 4 Republican Guard Commanders
Four Revolutionary Guard commanders died mysteriously of heart attacks and strokes over the past four days, an Iranian opposition website reported.
The website hinted that the commanders may have been murdered, this following the recent assassination of a nuclear scientist in Tehran and amid power struggles within the Iranian regime.According to Saham News, which is affiliated with opposition leader Mehdi Karoubi, the commanders were identified as Wafe Afrian (52), Abbas Mahari (52), Ahmed Siafzadeh (55) and Mansour Turkan (50).
According to reports in Iran, Afrian died five days ago after battling a disease for the past few months. He served as a senior commander in the electronics warfare division.Mahari, who died of a stroke, was a senior faculty member Imam Hossein University in Tehran and was linked to Iran’s unconventional weapons program. Siafzadeh, the former head of the Revolutionary Guards university, died of a heart attack, and Turkan, who served as a senior commander during the Iran-Iraq war, reportedly died of a stroke.
On Saturday media outlets in Azerbaijan quoted Iranian sources as saying that a 43-year-old Iranian military officer was shot to death by two motorcyclists in the city of Khorramabad.
Another soldier was injured in the incident. The two assailants fled the scene, according to reports. The Mehr news agency said the killed mid-level officer was identified as Raze Ali Fimani..