TEHRAN -- President Ebrahim Raisi on Sunday said the Israeli assassination of a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) last month is a sign of desperation and despair of the enemies of the Islamic Republic.
President Raisi made the remark in a meeting with the family of Colonel Hassan Sayyad Khodaei, who was assassinated in a terrorist attack in Tehran on May 22 after two motorcyclists shot him five times before fleeing the scene.
Khodaei was dismounting his car to enter his home in an eastern neighborhood of the capital when three bullets hit him in the head and two bullets in the hand.
“The fact that the enemies of the Islamic Republic, instead of confronting on the battlefield, carry out such cowardly assassinations, is a sign of their desperation and despair while triumph and power of the Islamic Republic,” Raisi said.
The Iranian president hailed the sacrifices of the slain IRGC member and wished patience and blessings to the bereaved family of Colonel Khodaei.
The New York Times on May 25 cited an intelligence official as saying that the occupying regime of Israel had informed American officials that it was behind the assassination.
IRGC Chief Commander Major General Hussein Salami has warned that Iran will take a “harsh” revenge on those who assassinated the colonel.
Separately Sunday, President Raisi said the delivery of a 113,000-ton tanker built by Iranian engineers and shipbuilding industries to Venezuela is an example of the country’s high capacity and capability in exporting technical and engineering services to the world and proving the efficiency of the model of resistance economy.
On Saturday, Iran’s Sadra shipbuilding company successfully delivered a second large oil tanker ordered by Venezuela during a visit to Tehran by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
The tanker, which is of the Aframax type, was delivered to the Venezuelan customer during a ceremony earlier in the day in Sadra shipbuilding yards in southern Iran.
Raisi said, “While the enemies of Iran and Venezuela try to impede the progress of the free nations of the two countries by imposing severe restrictions and harsh sanctions, the delivery of the 113,000-ton tanker built by Iranian engineers and shipbuilding industry is an example of Iran’s high capabilities in exporting technical and engineering services to the world and proves the efficiency of the model of resistance economy.”
The Iranian president added that the construction and delivery of the oil tanker, which has also been approved by the Venezuelan Technical and Engineering Group, in addition to helping the Venezuelan government achieve its goal of independence in maritime transport, shows once again that the will and unity of revolutionary nations and governments are much stronger and more effective than the US sanctions.
Pointing to the economies of Iran and Venezuela, Raisi said such cooperation is a suitable model for all developing and independent countries to see that great things can be done through cooperation and interaction.
The president also announced that two more tankers were under construction, expressing hope that they would be ready for delivery to Venezuela soon.