Four days after the arrest of 48 Quds Force terrorists by the Syrian Free Army, mullahs’ foreign minister Salehi was forced to admit those arrested were retired members of the regime’s Revolutionary Guards and army.
Revealing the Iranian regime’s fear regarding this issue and in an attempt to have these agents returned, during his visit to Turkey Salehi said they are “40 of our best loved ones”, adding, “For us it is important to have these dear loved ones released from detention.”
In complete contradiction to his previous remarks where he claimed these agents were only pilgrims who had travelled to Syria on their own and not according to the regime’s own programs, he said, “For some time our pilgrims were not travelling to Syria. However, since Damascus became quiet again we once again began to send pilgrims, and the retirees of the IRGC’s different departments and various ministries were among the list of pilgrims. Well, a number of these dear people were retired members of the IRGC and army. Of course they were from various departments.”
Reuters covered Salehi’s remarks and wrote according to the Iranian regime’s foreign minister a number of Iranians arrested in Syria were retired IRGC members.