IRGC Member Gunned Down In Central Iran

A top security official in Iran’s Esfahan province says a member of the Revolutionary Guard has been killed on Monday.

Deputy Governor of Esfahan, Mohammad Reza Jan-Nesari told ISNA that in the early hours of Monday one of the IRGC members, identified as Reza Dastani, was shot several times with a firearm on the way to work.

He also added that efforts are underway to identify and arrest the attackers, saying additional information about the intelligence measures taken will be announced later.

So far, authorities have not provided any information about Dastani’s rank or post in the IRGC or its Basij paramilitary unit. However, most personnel affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards have been involved in suppressing popular protests in the past 75 days.

The killing comes one week after Colonel Davoud Jafari, a senior aerospace commander lost his life in what Iran said was a roadside bomb blast on the outskirts of the Syrian capital, Damascus. He could have also been killed in one the frequent Israeli air strikes on Iranian bases in Syria.

The IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency said Jafari served as one of the Iranian officials responsible for the seizure of two US Navy command boats carrying 10 US personnel in the Persian Gulf in January 2016.

Jafari was involved in the deployment of Iranian air defense systems in Syria and Lebanon.