‘Israel’ Claims Responsibility for Assassination of IRGC Officer: NYT

In a briefing with American officials, the ‘Israeli’ occupation entity confirmed reports that Colonel Hassan Sayyad Khodaei, who was shot dead in a vehicle, was deputy commander of the Quds Force's Unit 840.

As per NYT, ‘Israeli’ officials claimed the officer was head of Unit 840's Middle East operations, as well as in nations bordering Iran.

Assassins on a motorcycle shot and killed Khodaei in front of his home on Mojahedin Eslam Street in the capital city of Tehran, according to Iranian reports.

The IRGC called the assassination a “criminal terrorist act of the counter-revolution and elements related to global arrogance,” a term often used to refer to the US and ‘Israel.’

Zionist Prime Minister Naftali Bennett confirmed on Wednesday reports that US President Joe Biden has informed him he will definitively not remove the IRGC from the US' list of foreign terrorist organizations [FTOs].

Biden reportedly told Bennett of his decision during a phone conversation between the two in April.

According to the report, Biden decided to pull the plug on the idea to remove the IRGC's Quds Force from the US' terrorist blacklist after it was clear it would not be enough to force Iran to compromise in talks to revive the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA].

The Zionist military establishment was surprised by the leak. ‘Israel’ and the US have a close intelligence relationship; something like this should never have been publicized, ‘Israeli’ media noted.

As per the report, Zionist officials are awaiting an explanation from their American counterparts, as the leak caught the occupation entity by surprise and was expected to have come from a source in the US.

Security officials in the occupied territories reportedly fear the leak might lead to a more "substantial" targeting of ‘Israelis’ abroad as revenge for the killing.