“Here lies the man who wanted to destroy Israel”

posted at 5:33 pm on December 1, 2011 by J.E. Dyer
[ Israel ]   

A 200-proof irony has emerged from the explosion at the Bigdaneh missile base west of Tehran on 12 November.  The explosion killed at least 27 people, including Major General Hassan Tehrani Moqaddam, head of the IRGC’s Self-Sufficiency and Industrial Research Center, the state enterprise that develops new weapons and weapons manufacturing capabilities, including strategic missiles.

According to Iranian press, quoted at Iran Daily Brief, General Moqaddam’s will contained the request that his headstone be inscribed as follows: “Here lies the man who wanted to destroy Israel.”

An associate verified with a Farsi speaker that this is actually being reported in Iran.

For reasons I have written about here and here, I don’t think the recent series of explosions in Iran is the work of a foreign government.  If the explosions continue, the pattern of targeting may change that assessment – but based on what we know now, there is no pattern.

An assessment that Mossad or the CIA did not kill Moqaddam merely increases the irony of his proposed epitaph, however.  He probably intended his choice of inscription to crown a long, successful career.  Instead, it will serve as a warning.

(Tombstone image generated here.)

Update:   See Israel Matzav’s take on this story as well.

J.E. Dyer’s articles have appeared at The Green Room, Commentary’s “contentions,” Patheos, The Weekly Standard online, and her own blog, The Optimistic Conservative.

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