Deputy leader of Iran's Quds Force dies from heart disease: state media

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The deputy head of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force has died from heart disease, the IRGC has said in a statement shared by Iranian state media. 

The IRGC described Mohammed Hejazi as a “pious, revolutionary” leader who worked to recruit and send fighters abroad, including to Iraq.

The Quds Force is the IRGC’s foreign arm and has entrenched Iranian influence in countries across the Middle East, including in Lebanon and Syria.

Hejazi previously headed the Basij, a paramilitary group closely linked with the IRGC, led IRGC operations in Lebanon and was also involved in suppressing Kurdish separatist movements in the Kurdistan and West Azerbaijan provinces.

He became deputy head of the Quds Force after the US assassination of its commander Qasem Soleimani in January 2020, when his predecessor Esmail Qaani was appointed as leader of the Quds Force. 

The killings led to a spate of rocket attacks by Iran-backed militias on Iraqi military bases hosting foreign troops.  

Hejazi warned Iran would take “harsh revenge” for the deaths.