TEHRAN: Iran’s supreme leader has decorated the Revolutionary Guards aerospace commander for the Islamic republic’s missile attacks on arch-foe Israel, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s website said on Sunday.

“Ayatollah Khamenei presented the Order of Fath ( “Conquest” in Farsi) to General Amirali Hajizadeh, commander of the Guards Aerospace Force,” it said.

Hajizadeh, 62, has headed the Guards aerospace unit since its creation in 2009.

On Tuesday, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) fired some 200 missiles at Israel in retaliation for an Israeli air strike that killed Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and IRGC top general Abbas Nilforoushan in Beirut.

It was Iran’s second direct attack on Israel in six months. On Sunday, Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad visited a key oil site in the Gulf, amid growing concerns over possible Israeli strikes on Iran’s oil facilities.

Published in Dawn, October 7th, 2024