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
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
The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and ...
sanctioned him, freezing any of his
U.S.
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
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 mor ...
, Canada added Amir Ali Hajizadeh's name to Consolidated Canadian Autonomous Sanctions List.
The downing of
PS752
Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 (PS752/AUI752) was a scheduled international civilian passenger flight from Tehran to Kyiv, operated by Ukraine International Airlines. On 8January 2020, the Boeing 737-800 flying the route was shot dow ...
Hajizadeh was the commander of Aerospace Force of IRGC on 8 January 2020 when two Surface-to-air missile, surface-to-air missiles 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
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