Top Iran Military Commander Killed in Plane Crash

By Michael D. Carroll AND Maya Mehrara

Two members of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) died in a gyroplane crash near Sirkan, a city in the Iranian province of Sistan-Baluchistan, on Monday according to the Fars News Agency.

One of the dead named in the report was Brigadier General Hamid Mazandarani, commander of the Nineveh Brigade. His pilot was also reported to have been killed.

Detailing the crash, a report on the Fars News Agency website says: "An Iranian general and pilot were martyred in an ultra-light gyroplane crash during a counterterrorism maneuver in the Southeastern province of Sistan and Baluchestan on Monday."

The report also details that the "ultralight aircraft was conducting a combat operation during a military exercise when it crashed" and that the crash followed the deaths of 10 Iranian law enforcement members days earlier after a terrorist attack in the Gohar Kuh district of Taftan.

Newsweek reached out to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran for comment via email.

It was unclear why Mazandarani was visiting the southeast, when he is based in a northern province, according to Reuters.

Fars News also mentioned the late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi's death in a helicopter crash in May but said that such aviation incidents are rare in Iran.

It is unknown officially what caused the crash that led to the president's death, along with those of Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and seven others.

The city of Sirkan has reportedly been the site of clashes between Iranian security forces, Sunni militants and drug traffickers, according to Reuters.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is currently embroiled in a battle with the Israeli military, in which saw Israel recently launch an attack on Iran that likely damaged a facility operated by the IRGC.

Satellite images indicated that the attack on October 26 struck the IRGC's Shahroud base, which is responsible for constructing ballistic missiles and launching rockets as part of Iran's space program.

Following the attack, Iranian Foreign Minister Syed Abbas Araghchi accused the U.S. of being involved in the attack, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked the U.S. for its "close coordination and assistance" in conducting the attack.

The IRGC is likely preparing for a retaliatory strike, with Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issuing a warning to the U.S. and Israel on November 2.

"The enemies, whether the Zionist regime or the United States of America, will definitely receive a crushing response to what they are doing to Iran and the Iranian nation and to the resistance front," Khamenei said.

Established after the 1979 revolution, the IRGC reports directly to Khamenei and works with partner organizations Hamas and Hezbollah, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.