2020: TOP NUCLEAR SCIENTIST
In November 2020, one of Iran's top nuclear scientists, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, is killed in a bombing and shooting attack on his car outside Tehran.
He had been under US sanctions for his role in Iran's nuclear programme.
Iran claims that the attack was carried out by a remote-controlled machine gun, a claim corroborated by The New York Times in a special report in 2021.
2022: 'DEFENDER OF THE SANCTUARY'
On May 22, Revolutionary Guards Colonel Sayyad Khodai is killed after being sprayed with bullets as he sits in his car outside his home in Tehran.
State television describes him as a member of the Quds Force.
The Guards describe him as a "defender of the sanctuary", a term used for those who work on behalf of Iran in Syria or Iraq. They vow to avenge his assassination by "Zionists".
