Two Revolutionary Guards air force officers, Mohammad Abdous and Ali Kamani, who was pronounced dead on Sunday, were involved in developing weapons for Hezbollah in Lebanon. The cause of death, according to Saudi-backed Iranian news television station Iran International, was not an accident, despite claims by Islamic Republic officials.
Iran's Central Province Corps issued a statement on Sunday announcing that Kamani, a member of the IRGC's aerospace unit, had died "as a result of a traffic accident" and "during a mission" in the city of Khomein.
The Ministry of Defense of the Islamic Republic of Iran also announced in a statement that a military employee of the ministry named Mohammad Abdous had been killed "during the mission."
طبق اطلاعات رسیده به ایران اینترنشنال، دو افسر هوافضای سپاه پاسداران بر اثر حادثه یا سانحه رانندگی کشته نشده‌اند. محمد عبدوس و علی کمانی از افسران مهندس نیروی هوافضای سپاه بودند که در زمینه ساخت و توسعه سلاح برای حزب‌الله لبنان کار می‌کردندگزارش مریم رحمتی، ایران اینترنشنال pic.twitter.com/VRO53fJRWn
— ايران اينترنشنال (@IranIntl) June 14, 2022
Abdous and Kamani were both Revolutionary Guards air force engineer officers who worked on "building and developing weapons for Hezbollah in Lebanon," according to Iran International.
The two aerospace engineers were not killed in accidents, contrary to the Islamic Republic's claim, according to information provided by a source to Iran International.
In contrast to a report by Iran International that did not receive confirmation from another source, the Iranian Ministry of Defense stressed that the two officers died while on duty and called them "martyrs" – without any explanation.
The deaths of the two join a line of Iranian officers and others who worked in the Revolutionary Guards and were killed, some by Israel, according to Israeli media.
Among other things, it was alleged that Israel poisoned the food of two Iranian scientists, Ayub Entezari and Kamran Agamoulay, and thus eliminated them.
Entezari developed symptoms of food poisoning after attending a dinner to which he was invited. Agamulai, a geologist by profession whose death was not linked to Israel, returned from a business trip and began to develop flu symptoms that worsened — until he collapsed and died.
Yonah Jeremy Bob contributed to this report.