IRGC promises Jundallah 'crushing response'

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has vowed to give a sever response to the Pishin attack that killed 42 people, including commanders and tribal figures.

“The murder of Nour-Ali Shoushtari, Rajab-Ali Mohammadzadeh, and Bluch tribal leaders, whose blood represents the unity between Shia and Sunni in Iran, will not be left unanswered,” commander of the IRGC ground force General Mohammad Pakpour said on Saturday.

Senior IRGC commanders Shoushtari and Mohammadzadeh were killed in a Sunday morning bombing carried out by the Pakistan-based Jundallah separatist group in Pishin, a borderline region in southeast Iran.

Gen. Pakpour said that “global arrogance” had Brigadier Shoustari assassinated because of the “innovative security tactics he was carrying out in the region”.

He added that the attack took place as the senior IRGC commander was beginning to achieve constructive results.

Gen. Pakpour said, however, that Shoustari's death will breathe new life into the unity that the region's Shia and Sunni communities already share, much to the enemy's disappointment.

Jundallah, a terrorist ring closely affiliated with the notorious al-Qaeda organization and led by Abdolmalik Rigi, has carried out countless bombings and other violent attacks in Iran.

According to a 2007 Sunday Telegraph report, the group was originally created by the CIA to achieve 'regime change in Iran'. The report said the US intelligence agency sought to destabilize Iran by 'supplying arms-length support' and 'money and weapons' to Jundallah.

Another report posted by ABC also revealed that US officials had ordered the group to 'stage deadly guerrilla raids inside the Islamic Republic, kidnap Iranian officials and execute them on camera', all as part of a 'programmatic objective to overthrow the Iranian government'.

In a recent interview with Press TV, Rigi's brother also confirmed the Jundallah leader's suspected links with the US agents.

Abdulhamid Rigi said that in just one of his meetings with the US operatives, his brother had received $100,000 for his projects in Iran.