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.



Iran Must 'Walk Away' from all Uranium Enrichment, Rubio Says

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio looks on upon his arrival at the Quai d'Orsay, France's Minister of Foreign Affairs before a bilateral meeting with his French counterpart in Paris on April 17, 2025. (Photo by JULIEN DE ROSA / POOL / AFP)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio looks on upon his arrival at the Quai d'Orsay, France's Minister of Foreign Affairs before a bilateral meeting with his French counterpart in Paris on April 17, 2025. (Photo by JULIEN DE ROSA / POOL / AFP)
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Iran Must 'Walk Away' from all Uranium Enrichment, Rubio Says

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio looks on upon his arrival at the Quai d'Orsay, France's Minister of Foreign Affairs before a bilateral meeting with his French counterpart in Paris on April 17, 2025. (Photo by JULIEN DE ROSA / POOL / AFP)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio looks on upon his arrival at the Quai d'Orsay, France's Minister of Foreign Affairs before a bilateral meeting with his French counterpart in Paris on April 17, 2025. (Photo by JULIEN DE ROSA / POOL / AFP)

Iran has to 'walk away' from uranium enrichment and long-range missile development and it should allow American inspectors of its facilities, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday as a round of nuclear talks was postponed.

Rubio's comments underscore the major remaining divisions in talks between the countries to resolve the long-running dispute over Iran's nuclear program, with US President Donald Trump threatening to bomb Iran if there is no agreement.

"They have to walk away from sponsoring terrorists, they have to walk away from helping the Houthis (in Yemen), they have to walk away from building long-range missiles that have no purpose to exist other than having nuclear weapons, and they have to walk away from enrichment," Rubio said in a Fox News interview.

Iran has repeatedly said it will not give up its missile program or its uranium enrichment - a process used to make fuel for nuclear power plants but which can also yield material for an atomic warhead.

On Thursday a senior Iranian official told Reuters that the scheduled fourth round of talks due to take place in Rome on Saturday had been postponed and that a new date would be set "depending on the US approach".

Rubio said Iran should import enriched uranium for its nuclear power program rather than enriching it to any level.

"If you have the ability to enrich at 3.67% it only takes a few weeks to get to 20% then 60% and then the 80 and 90% that you need for a weapon," he said.

Iran has said it has a right to enrich uranium under the terms of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It denies wanting to build a nuclear bomb.

Rubio also said Iran would have to accept that Americans could be involved in any inspection regime and that inspectors would require access to all facilities, including military ones.