IRGC Aerospace Commander Denies Israeli Involvement in Tehrani-Moghadam's Death

Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force, denied Mohammad Tehrani-Moghadam's claims that his brother, Hassan Tehrani-Moghadam, was assassinated by Israel. Hassan Tehrani-Moghadam was killed in November 2011 in an explosion at an IRGC base. In an interview with the latest issue of the magazine "Ramz Obour," Mohammad Tehrani-Moghadam stated that his brother was a victim of a terrorist operation. Hassan Tehrani-Moghadam was the commander of the IRGC's Self-Sufficiency Jihad Organization and lost his life along with dozens of others in the explosion of an IRGC ammunition depot in the city of Malard. Four years after the incident, his brother claimed that the event leading to the martyrdom of General Hassan Tehrani-Moghadam was not an accident but a premeditated and planned terrorist incident. He added that the incident occurred while one of the new inventions of the late martyr was under construction, design, and testing. This IRGC member mentioned that "the various dimensions of this incident will be explained to our people by the authorities in due time," but the commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force refuted these statements. On Saturday, May 25, the IRGC's official website quoted the commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force, stating that the "Zionists' involvement in the martyrdom of Hassan Tehrani-Moghadam" is a "rumor" that has unfortunately been raised in some media recently. Mr. Hajizadeh stated that "General Tehrani-Moghadam was testing fuel in the workshop on the day of the incident when this happened, and after his martyrdom, his projects were completed." Previously, Hassan Firouzabadi, the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, had stated in November 2011 that the U.S. and Israel were not involved in the explosion of an IRGC base near Tehran. At that time, various reports in international media had suggested Israeli involvement in the explosion, which the IRGC denied. Shortly after this explosion, a Western security source told Time magazine that Mossad was responsible for the action and that "the Iranian government's claims of the explosion being accidental should not be believed." The significance of Hassan Tehrani-Moghadam's position in the military structure of the Islamic Republic of Iran was such that Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, attended the funeral of him and other victims of this explosion. In a condolence message issued on this occasion, he stated that "the bloody incident at one of the IRGC's support centers was a bitter and sorrowful reality." In this context, "satellite images show extensive destruction at the IRGC missile base," with the latest statistics from the explosion at the IRGC base indicating "at least 36 dead." "White smoke from the IRGC base explosion is likely from burning missile phosphorus," and the IRGC stated that one of the casualties from the explosion on Saturday was the founder of the "IRGC missile program." The death toll from the explosion at the IRGC ammunition depot reached "17 people," with 15 dead in the explosion of the ammunition depot near Malard, Tehran.