Death of Quds Force deputy commander stirs up confusion in Iran

Islam Mohamed

The latest death of the deputy commander of Quds Force, Mohammad Hejazi, is still a mystery.

Some people say Hejazi was killed in the battlefield in Syria, Iraq or Yemen. Others, however, say that his death is connected with a series of internal assassinations.

Hijazi’s death comes as rival security agencies in Iran, especially the Revolutionary Guard Corpse and the intelligence, arrest the members of each other.

Growing confusion

A son of Mohammad Ebrahim Hemmat, a commander of the Revolutionary Guard who was killed in the war in Iraq, said Hejazi did not die from a heart attack as the Revolutionary Guard claimed.

He described him on Twitter as a “martyr”.

An Iranian opposition journalist said, meanwhile, that this may be proof enough that Hejazi was killed in either Iraq or Syria.

“We only have to wait and see,” the journalist said.

A hashtag and a statement

Iranian activists launched the “Martyr Hegazi” hashtag, which is usually launched in Iran following the death of military commanders in military confrontations.

Chief of Staff of the Iranian army Mohammad Bagheri also described Hejazi as a “martyr”.

Nevertheless, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei did not describe the man in the same way.

Positions

Hejazi assumed a large number of positions following the Islamic Revolution of 1979. He was the commander of the Basij force for ten years. In 2007, the Iranian supreme leader appointed him as the chief of staff of joint operations at the Revolutionary Guard Corpse.

In 2008, Hejazi became the deputy commander of the corpse. He accompanied the late Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani in most of his travels to Syria.