Top Revolutionary Guard Dies in Iran Air Crash

A kiss is just a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh. And a crash may be just a crash.

Ahmad Kazemi, appointed last year as ground forces commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, was among 13 people killed on Monday in a plane crash near the city of Urumiyeh, north-west Iran

General Kazemi was one of a wave of promotions made last August by Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, after new president Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad took office.

Separate from Iran’s regular armed forces, the Revolutionary Guards have land, sea and air forces, and run a network of business activities. Iran’s reformists have long accused the Guards of playing too political a role.

The aircraft, a French-made Falcon jet, came down because landing gear jammed, reported IRNA, the official news agency, which put General Kazemi among the 11 commanders killed.

This was Iran’s second military plane crash in two months. On December 6, around 105 people, mainly journalists, died when a US-made military transport Hercules C-130 crashed into a residential building near Tehran’s Mehrabad airport after suffering engine trouble.

Iran has a patchy recent history of air safety, with spare parts for both military and civilian aircraft subject to US sanctions.

As I noted earlier, military aviation is a dangerous business. Still, given the recent radical behavior at the top of the Iranian government, I doubt I’m the only one with thoughts of the word purge.

Even if, after all is said and done, the problem stems from continued American sanctions, do not turn here for tears.