Photo Credit: Kobi Richter/TPS

Another senior Iranian official, aerospace scientist Ayoob Entezari has died, with some saying it was another assassination of a key figure in the country’s nuclear and weapons program.

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Enetzari, who held a Ph.D. in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Tehran’s Sharif University, reportedly worked in Iran’s drone development program, a field in which Iran has made significant progress in recent years, causing alarm in Israel.

Entezari was reportedly poisoned during a dinner meeting he was invited to.

Iran international, the Iranian opposition’s news site, reported that the governor-general’s office in the central province of Yazd handed a certificate to Entezari’s family confirming his “martyrdom”, a label the Islamic Republic uses for people who died in the line of duty.

Entezari’s death was the latest in a series of “accidents” and deaths of researchers and military officials, attributed to Israel.

Reports of Entezari’s death came a day after Iran confirmed the death of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Colonel Ali Esmailzadeh, the second officer from Unit 840 to die in two weeks

Iranian media stated that Esmailzadeh died “in an incident in recent days” at his home. Iran International quoted sources in Iran that reported that the IRGC killed him over suspicions of espionage for Israel.

He was a close colleague of Colonel Hassan Sayyad Khodayari, the acting commander of the elite Qods Unit 840, who was shot dead outside his home in Tehran on May 22. The sources said that the IRGC became suspicious that Esmailzadeh divulged information about his Khodayari and decided to punish him.

Unit 840 function is to serve as an assassination and terrorism unit abroad.

Israeli analyst Yoni Ben Menachem, of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA), warned that Iran’ revenge will come.

The Mossad’s new strategy of creating confusion and demoralization in Iran in addition to the intelligence and operational achievements is so far working, he said.

However, senior security officials are warning against “entering complacency” and say that “Iranian revenge against Israel will come and that it is only a matter of time.”

The Iranians are determined to avenge the deaths of nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizada and Khodayari, “this is the direct order of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.”

“The Iranian leadership is stressed, it feels that Israel has achievements in the secret war that are hurting Iranian morale and it is looking for a quick way to restore its deterrence against Israel,” he warned.

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Aryeh Savir is director of the International division of Tazpit News Agency.