IRGC Protection Command: ISIS Sought to Hijack a Plane in Iran

The IRGC Protection Command states that the Islamic State (formerly ISIS) intended to carry out a hijacking in Iran. According to Fars News Agency, Ali Bagheri announced this on Saturday, January 3, marking the 30th anniversary of the formation of the Aviation Protection Corps. The Deputy Operations Commander of the IRGC Protection Command mentioned that there have been attempts at hijacking since 2010, but none have been operationalized, and individuals with political, ideological, psychological, and economic motivations continuously pose a threat in this area. He emphasized that ISIS and other Salafi groups have sought to harm the country through such actions, but fortunately, they have not been able to execute any operational plans. He also mentioned the most recent attempted hijacking in connection with a Tehran-Damascus flight, where the perpetrator was described as having political motives but was unsuccessful and was arrested. This individual was characterized as an Iranian who had legally boarded the plane and had even engaged in physical altercations with passengers to instill fear. Colonel Bagheri did not specify the date of this incident and provided no further details regarding ISIS's plans for hijacking in Iran. Previously, Mohammad Hassan Kazemi, Deputy Commander of the IRGC Protection Command, had reported an attempted hijacking on the Tehran-Damascus route in 2010. Ali Bagheri also referred to the formation of the Aviation Protection Corps, stating that after nearly five planes were hijacked in a few months in 1984, Ayatollah Khomeini ordered that the protection of aircraft be assigned to the IRGC. He added that since then, there have been 130 attempted hijackings in Iran, with 13 involving confrontations where both the attackers and security personnel were harmed, but none of the attackers succeeded in their operations. Kazemi had previously stated that out of these 130 hijacking attempts, 26 involved confrontations, and 13 resulted in shootings leading to fatalities. He also noted that in 1988, the then Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi requested the withdrawal of the IRGC from airports, but Ayatollah Khomeini opposed this. In a related context, Colonel Ali Bagheri described the protection of Iranian nuclear scientists as another duty of the IRGC, stating that in the past two years, the Zionist enemy had attempted to assassinate one of the nuclear scientists, which was thwarted by the timely intervention of the IRGC protection forces. Iranian officials have previously reported the assassination of five Iranian nuclear scientists, four of whom lost their lives. In this context, ISIS claimed that its forces killed the IRGC commander, and one senior IRGC commander was killed in Iraq. Iran's plan to counter potential threats from ISIS in Iraq is also noted.