According to an unnamed intelligence official, Israel has informed U.S. officials that Israel was behind the assassination of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Colonel Hassan Sayyad Khodaei in Tehran on May 22. Iran has accused Israel of orchestrating the attack, but the Israeli government has not publicly accepted responsibility. According to the intelligence official, the assassination was meant to deter Iran from continuing to operate Unit 840, allegedly a secret IRGC Qods Force unit that targets foreigners, including Israelis, for abductions and assassinations. Khodaei was allegedly its deputy commander.
News Briefs
May 25, 2022
The Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned Greece’s top diplomat in Tehran over the Greek government's alleged seizeure of cargo from an Iran-flagged ship in Greek waters. Greece is holding the ship in its coastal waters, according to Iranian state media. Iranian media said that the vessel had to make an unplanned stop in Greece's territorial waters due to bad weather and technical issues, and accused Greece of capitulating to U.S. pressure to seize the cargo.
-- Associated Press
May 22, 2022
Two unidentified gunmen killed IRGC Colonel Hassan Sayyad Khodaei outside his Tehran home on May 22. Khodaei's role within the IRGC is unclear, but state-affiliated media called him a "defender of the shrine," language that usually refers to Qods Force units that fight against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. The IRGC said "global arrogance," a term used often in Iran to refer to the United States and Israel, was behind the killing. The IRGC separately announced that it had uncovered an Israeli spy cell operating in the country.
-- Associated Press
May 19, 2022
Iranian oil exports to China fell by approximately 200,000 barrels per day from March to April, according to industry consultants, likely due to a higher volume of competing Russian oil exports to Asia. China, the main destination of Iranian oil exports, began buying heavily discounted Russian oil at triple its previous rate, after Western countries imposed sanctions on Russia. Russian crude oil is usually cheaper to refine than Iranian crude. Approximately 20 Iranian tankers carrying nearly 40 million barrels of oil have been left anchored near Singapore searching for buyers, according to shipping data and estimates by the analytics company Kpler.
-- Al Jazeera
May 17, 2022
On May 17, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), an official Iranian news service, announced that Iran had established a facility for the production of the Ababil-2 military drone in Tajikistan. According to the IRNA report, the Ababil-2 is strike- and surveillance-capable and has a range of 200 kilometers. Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces General Mohammad Hossein Bagheri attended the inauguration of the facility, which is Iran's first military production line located abroad.
-- Associated Press
May 12, 2022
Iraq will pay Iran $1.6 billion by June 1 to resolve outstanding debts and secure its supply of Iranian gas for the summer. While the United States sanctions Iran's energy exports, it has granted Iraq a waiver. Iraq must use a complex payments system to comply with the waiver. Delays in that payment system caused Iraq to accrue debt beginning in 2020. Acting Iraqi electricity minister Abdul Karim stated that Iraq will likely rely on Iranian gas for five to ten more years.
-- Agence France-Presse
May 12, 2022
Satellite imagery and GPS data have confirmed that the Maximo Gorki, Venezuela's only supertanker, conducted a ship-to-ship transfer with a National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) tanker in March. The Iranian vessel transferred two million barrels of condensate to the Venezuelan vessel off the coast of the Maldives. The Maximo Gorki offloaded the Iranian condensate in Venezuela last week.
-- Reuters
May 11, 2022
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) fired artillery into the Sidekan area of Iraq, 60 miles northeast of Erbil. Iranian state media stated that the artillery strikes were aimed at terrorist bases. Another Iranian news outlet reported that the IRGC had targeted Iranian Kurdish militant groups in the area on previous occasions.
-- Reuters
May 11, 2022
The Iranian Ministry of Intelligence stated that it had arrested two European Union citizens, allegedly for organizing riots during their visit to Iran. The announcement occurred during EU diplomat Enrique Mora's official visit to Tehran for nuclear-related talks. Iranian authorities also said they plan to execute an E.U. citizen, Swedish researcher Ahmadreza Djalali, who was detained in Iran in 2016. The Iranian announcement of Djalali's impending execution preceded the expected sentencing in Sweden of an Iranian national being prosecuted for his involvment in mass executions in the 1980s.
-- Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
May 11, 2022
The Noor-2, an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) reconnaissance satellite, captured images of the U.S. Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain as part of the first set of photographs it transmitted back to Iran. The satellite launched in March and can reportedly capture high-resolution color images.
-- Fox News