Iran Buries Slain Revolutionary Guards Colonel, Vows Revenge

Mourners attend the funeral ceremony of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Col. Hassan Sayyad Khodaei, shown in the poster, who was killed on Sunday, in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, May 24, 2022. (AP)
Mourners attend the funeral ceremony of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Col. Hassan Sayyad Khodaei, shown in the poster, who was killed on Sunday, in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, May 24, 2022. (AP)
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Iran Buries Slain Revolutionary Guards Colonel, Vows Revenge

Mourners attend the funeral ceremony of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Col. Hassan Sayyad Khodaei, shown in the poster, who was killed on Sunday, in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, May 24, 2022. (AP)
Mourners attend the funeral ceremony of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Col. Hassan Sayyad Khodaei, shown in the poster, who was killed on Sunday, in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, May 24, 2022. (AP)

Iran held a funeral procession on Tuesday in the center of the capital Tehran for Revolutionary Guards Colonel Hassan Sayad Khodai, who was shot dead by two people on a motorcycle, and his commander vowed to avenge the attack.

State television showed crowds surrounding a truck carrying Khodai's casket, wrapped in Iran's flag and strewn with flowers. Mourners held portraits of Khodai, who was gunned down in broad daylight in front of his home in central Tehran on Sunday.

"Iran's response to any threat or action will be harsh. But we will determine when and how it will be and in what circumstances. We will definitely take revenge on our enemies," Revolutionary Guards commander Hossein Salami told reporters.

Iran has blamed such attacks on Israel. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh said US support was making Israel more brazen.

"There is no doubt that the overt and covert support of ...the United States plays an important role in increasing the audacity of the occupying regime (Israel)," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh told state media.

Separately, state television said the Guards had arrested members of a network of "thugs" recruited by Israeli intelligence to carry out sabotage and attacks in Iran.

The Israeli Prime Minister's office, which oversees intelligence agency Mossad, has declined to comment on the events in Tehran.

Israeli media said Khodai headed a unit of the Quds Force - the Revolutionary Guards' overseas arm - planning attacks on Israelis abroad.

Khodai was a "defender of the shrines," Iranian state media said on Sunday, referring to military personnel or advisers who Iran says fight on its behalf to protect Shiite sites in Iraq or Syria against groups such as ISIS.

The forces have played a key role in backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Tehran's ally.

The killing comes at a time of uncertainty over the revival of Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers after months of stalled talks.

At least six Iranian scientists and academics have been killed or attacked since 2010, several of them by assailants riding motorcycles, in attacks believed to have targeted Iran’s nuclear program, which the West says is aimed at producing a bomb.

Iran denies this, saying the program has peaceful purposes, and has denounced the killings as acts of terrorism carried out by Western intelligence agencies and Mossad. Israel has declined comment on such accusations.



Congo and Rwanda to Sign US-mediated Peace Deal to End Conflict in Eastern Congo

FILE PHOTO: Members of the M23 rebel group mount their vehicles after the opening ceremony of Caisse Generale d'epargne du Congo in Goma, North Kivu province in the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo, April 7, 2025. REUTERS/Arlette Bashizi/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Members of the M23 rebel group mount their vehicles after the opening ceremony of Caisse Generale d'epargne du Congo in Goma, North Kivu province in the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo, April 7, 2025. REUTERS/Arlette Bashizi/File Photo
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Congo and Rwanda to Sign US-mediated Peace Deal to End Conflict in Eastern Congo

FILE PHOTO: Members of the M23 rebel group mount their vehicles after the opening ceremony of Caisse Generale d'epargne du Congo in Goma, North Kivu province in the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo, April 7, 2025. REUTERS/Arlette Bashizi/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Members of the M23 rebel group mount their vehicles after the opening ceremony of Caisse Generale d'epargne du Congo in Goma, North Kivu province in the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo, April 7, 2025. REUTERS/Arlette Bashizi/File Photo

The Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda are set to sign a peace deal facilitated by the US to help end the decadeslong deadly fighting in eastern Congo.

The deal, to be signed in Washington Friday, would also help the US government and American companies gain access to critical minerals in the conflict-battered, mineral-rich region, The Associated Press said.

The Central African nation of Congo has been ripped apart by conflict with more than 100 armed groups. The most prominent is the M23 rebel group, backed by neighboring Rwanda, whose major advance early this year left bodies littered on the streets.

With 7 million people displaced in Congo, the UN has called it “one of the most protracted, complex, serious humanitarian crises on Earth.”

Lauded by President Trump last week as “a Great Day for Africa and ... for the World,” the crucial deal comes as part of other ongoing peace talks to end the conflict, including ones mediated by the African Union as well as Qatar.

The agreement involves provisions on respect for territorial integrity, a prohibition of hostilities as well as the disengagement, disarmament and conditional integration of non-state armed groups, US State Department deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott told reporters on Thursday.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric also said on Thursday that such a deal is welcomed, adding: “We talk almost every day about ... the horrific suffering of civilians, the hunger, the sexual violence, the constant fear, the constant displacement” in eastern Congo.

The peace deal will likely not end the conflict quickly Congo hopes the US will provide it with the security support needed to fight the rebels and possibly get them to withdraw from the key cities of Goma and Bukavu, and from the entire region where Rwanda is estimated to have up to 4,000 troops. Rwanda has said it is defending its territorial interests and not supporting the M23.

However, the M23 rebels have suggested the agreement won’t be binding on them. The rebel group has not been directly involved in the planned peace deal although it has been part of other ongoing peace talks.

Corneille Nangaa, leader of the Congo River Alliance that includes the M23, told the Associated Press in March that direct peace talks with Congo can only be held if the country acknowledges their grievances and that “anything regarding us which are done without us, it’s against us.”

An M23 spokesman, Oscar Balinda, also echoed those thoughts in an interview with AP this week, saying the US-facilitated deal does not concern the rebels.

The US' role in ending the conflict

Analysts say the US government’s commitment might depend on how much access it has to the minerals being discussed under a separate minerals deal being negotiated.

The mostly untapped minerals — estimated to be worth as much as $24 trillion by the US Department of Commerce — are critical to much of the world’s technology.

Christian Moleka, a political scientist at the Congolese think tank Dypol, called the planned deal a “major turning point” in the decadeslong conflict, but that the signing could "in no way eliminate all the issues of the conflict.”

“The current draft agreement ignores war crimes and justice for victims by imposing a partnership between the victim and the aggressor,” he said. “This seems like a trigger-happy proposition and cannot establish lasting peace without justice and reparation.”

In Congo's North Kivu province, the hardest hit by the fighting, some believe the peace deal will help resolve the violence but warn justice must still be served for an enduring peace to take hold.

“I don't think the Americans should be trusted 100%,” said Hope Muhinuka, an activist from the province. “It is up to us to capitalize on all we have now as an opportunity.”