Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and Qassem Soleimani were killed in a US airstrike on Friday 3 January 2019, in Baghdad airport.

On Friday 3^rd January, Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani was killed in a US drone strike that was ordered by President Donald Trump. Soleimani was the head of the Quds Force, a branch of the notorious Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). He has been instrumental in boosting the influence of Iran the whole way across the region.

Another individual that was killed in the drone strike is Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis (also known as Jamal Jafar Ibrahim). He acted as the deputy chief of Hashd al-Shaabi (PMF) – an influential militia in Iraq that is backed by Iran.

He was born in the city of Basra to an Iraqi father and an Iranian mother. Upon completing his studies in the late seventies, he joined the Dawa Party. When the party was banned in Iraq, he moved to the city of Ahvaz in the southwestern province of Iran where he received training. He has been involved with a number of terror attacks including one that targeted the French and American embassies in Kuwait killing a handful of people.

This death is not mourned by the main opposition to the Iranian regime – the Mujahedin-e Khalq (PMOI / MEK Iran). Many members of the MEK have been killed because of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis’ actions in the past.

At the beginning of November 1999, a terrorist attack claimed the lives of five members of the MEK Iran. Many dozens of members of the MEK Iran were seriously injured. Just 35 kilometers from the border with Iran and 45 kilometers north of the Iraqi city of Basra, a truck containing 2.5 tons of explosives was detonated at the MEK’s Camp Habib. The Iranian regime had attempted to completely destroy the PMOI / MEK Iran site.

Earlier this year, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis spoke on television about his relationship with the Islamic Republic of Iran. During an interview on Iraqi television, he said that he has “very strong relations” with Iran and many of its officials, confirming that he had lived there for 25 years. He said that Iran must support Iraq and drew attention to the influence that he has in Iraq, indicating that he is an important asset to the Iranian regime.

Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis’ militia was sent to Iran at the end of last year in a bid to silence the PMOI / MEK Iran and the people that have been calling for regime change. The anger of the people in Iran during these protests was palpable and the Iranian regime knows that the PMOI / MEK Iran is growing stronger and stronger.

The PMOI / MEK Iran has been the most significant threat to the Iranian regime’s existence and it is for this reason that it has been particularly targeted by the mullahs. The PMOI / MEK Iran is calling for regime change as the only way to bring positive change to the country and to the people is with the eviction of the corrupt, terrorist and brutal mullahs. The regime is realizing that this is also the will of the people so it is trying to silence the PMOI / MEK Iran in any way it can.