Thousands mourn slain Iranian colonel with calls for revenge

Tehran, May 24 (EFE).- Thousands of people on Tuesday took part in the funeral procession for an Islamic Revolutionary Guard colonel who was shot dead in front of his Tehran house.

Colonel of Iranian Quds Force Hossein Sayad Khodaie was shot five times as he was in his car outside his house by two people traveling on a motorcycle on Sunday.

Khodaie had served in Syria as part of the Quds Force, the body responsible for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ operations on foreign soil.

The mourners carried photos of Khodaie and chanted slogans such as “we are going to take revenge,” “we will take revenge for your blood” as well as “death to Israel” and “death to the USA.”

The commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Hossein Salami said that Tehran’s vengeance will be “hard.”

“Our reaction will be harsh and will make our enemies repent,” Salami said in a speech in the city of Khorramshahr.

Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, vowed revenge for the death of the colonel on Monday: “I have no doubt that the revenge of this martyr is inevitable.”

Iran has blamed the assassination on “world arrogance,” a term used for the United States and its allies, such as Israel. EFE

ar-jlr/ta