TEHRAN: Iran has received the bodies of five members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps> (IRGC) who were killed in joint U.S.-Saudi airstrikes in Iraq earlier this week, according to Iranian state media.
The official IRNA news agency reported on Friday that the remains of the five Guards members entered Iran through the Mehran border crossing in the western province of Ilam.
The United States and Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday that the strikes targeted Iran-backed militants in Iraq in response to recent attacks against the Gulf kingdom.
According to officials, the airstrikes hit positions belonging to the Popular Mobilization Forces, also known as Hashed al-Shaabi, an Iraqi coalition of armed groups that includes several factions aligned with Iran. At least 20 militants were reported killed in the operation, including the five Iranian nationals.
The IRGC’s Quds Force, responsible for overseeing Iran’s military operations abroad, has long maintained ties with allied armed groups across the region. Iranian personnel killed outside the country are often associated with the elite force.
The latest incident comes amid heightened regional tensions. In 2020, the United States killed Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force, in a drone strike near Baghdad International Airport. The attack also killed Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy head of Hashed al-Shaabi.
The return of the IRGC members’ bodies underscores the continuing volatility in Iraq and the broader regional confrontation involving Iran, the United States, and its allies.
