IRGC commander thought dead in Israeli strike reportedly plans Asian sabotage- report

Brig. Gen. Rahman Moghaddam, long believed to have been killed in an Israeli strike, reportedly survived and is directing plans for sabotage around some of Asia’s most important maritime routes.

Iran International, citing several informed sources, reported that Moghaddam commands Unit 4000, a special operations unit of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The unit has allegedly begun planning operations in the Strait of Malacca and the Bangka Strait, as well as at ports in Indonesia and China. Both waterways are vital to global trade.

Moghaddam was previously believed to have died in Israeli strikes on March 4. The day after Israeli media reported his death, Iran launched two drones toward Azerbaijan. CNN reported that the strikes came in retaliation for Moghaddam’s killing in an attack believed to have been carried out from Azerbaijani territory.

According to Iran International, Unit 4000 conducts assassinations and sabotage operations against Iran’s opponents outside the country. The IRGC has reportedly recruited non-Iranian operatives in East Asia to support maritime terrorism operations and provide Tehran with plausible deniability if an operation is exposed.

Moghaddam allegedly sought Shi’ite recruits in Thailand through Seyed Momen Saketicha, a senior figure in the country’s Shi’ite community. Saketicha took part in negotiations in Tehran two years ago over the release of 31 Thai hostages held in Gaza. Iran reportedly tried to pressure Thailand to withdraw 40,000 Thai workers from Israel in exchange for their release.

Unit 4000 also reportedly used two Indonesian clerics to recruit operatives in Indonesia. Three Indonesian recruits were allegedly hired for maritime sabotage missions in East Asia.

The report comes amid threats from Iran to widen the war. Two months earlier, Mohsen Rezaei, an adviser to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, told CNN that Iran would expand the conflict into the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean Sea if the war and a US naval blockade were not ended.