Iran
IraniStock

Iran International, a news website affiliated with the Iranian opposition, reported on Thursday that a commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) Quds Force unit 840 died under suspicious circumstances in Karaj.

Sources in Iran told the news website that the commander, who was named as Colonel Ali Esmailzadeh, died on Monday when he fell from the roof of his home.

The report noted that Esmailzadeh was a close colleague of Colonel Hassan Sayyad Khodaei, who was shot dead behind the wheel of his car outside his home in Tehran on May 22 by two gunmen who fled the scene on a motorbike.

Iran International’s sources also said that after he fell from the roof, Esmailzadeh was taken to Shahid Madani Hospital where doctors pronounced him dead. Based on this report, officials of the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) told Esmailzadeh’s family that the reason for his death was suicide.

The IRGC officials further told the family that he ended his life due to psychological problems after separation from his wife and has left a note about his action.

In the case of Esmailzadeh, Iran International’s sources said that after Khodaei’s killing, the IRGC intelligence was looking for security leaks from within the Quds Force and became suspicious of Esmailzadeh, and therefore decided to eliminate him by organizing a suicide scenario.

The New York Timesreported last week that Israel informed American officials that it was behind the killing of Khodaei.

An intelligence official cited in the report said that the Israelis told the Americans the killing was meant as a warning to Iran to halt the operations of unit 840, which is tasked with abductions and assassinations of foreigners around the world, including Israeli civilians and officials.

Iran has never acknowledged the existence of Unit 840.

The IRGC denounced Khodaei’s killing as a "criminal terrorist act", and claimed that it had earlier on the day his death broken up a "network of thugs linked with the Zionist regime of Israel's intelligence service".

A European security official told Iran Internationalthat Khodaei was responsible for recruiting operatives for terror attacks against Israelis.

The source said Khodaei had been involved in a number of terrorist operations against Israelis in three continents including Asia, Europe, and Africa. These include an attack in the capital of India, New Delhi, on February 13, 2012, in which a diplomat’s wife was wounded.