Amir Ali Hajizadeh ( fa, امیرعلی حاجی‌زاده; born 28 February 1962 in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

) is commander of Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps since October 2009. During Eghtedar-e Velayat war game, on 8 March 2016, Hajizadeh said: "the reason we designed our missiles with a range of 2,000 km is to be able to hit our enemies from a safe distance."

U.S. and Canada sanctions

On 24 June 2019, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned him, freezing any of his U.S. assets and banning U.S. persons from doing business with him. On 29 September 2022, following the protests to the

death of Mahsa Amini On 16 September 2022, the 22-year-old Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, also known as Jina Amini,; ku, ژینا ئەمینی, Jîna Emînî died in a hospital in Tehran, Iran, under suspicious circumstances. The Guidance Patrol, the religious mo ...

, Canada added Amir Ali Hajizadeh's name to Consolidated Canadian Autonomous Sanctions List.

The downing of PS752

Hajizadeh was the commander of Aerospace Force of IRGC on 8 January 2020 when two

surface-to-air missiles A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft sys ...

were shot to the Boeing 737-800, killing all 176 passengers and crew. Islamic Republic of Iran denied that missile brought down the plane for three days and pretended it was a plane crash. Some in Iran's media even called it impossible. As the evidence and international pressures escalated, IRGC issued a letter on 11 January 2020 and Hajizadeh accepted "full responsibility" for the shootdown. Despite this letter, no-one from IRGC, including Hajizadeh, has been demoted or punished for the crime. About three years later, in November 2022, Hajizadeh blamed others for late acceptance of responsibility: "The decision was made after 48 hours. We knew what happened from the first hour, but other entities and organizations did not accept it.", he also added "48 hours is not too long (to tell the truth)".

References

Living people 1962 births People from Tehran Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps brigadier generals Iranian individuals subject to the U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctions {{Iran-mil-bio-stub