Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon lost one eye and suffered serious injury to the other when a pager he was carrying exploded on Tuesday, amid a nationwide attack targeting Tehran’s terror proxy Hezbollah.
Two members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps briefed on the attack confirmed the extent of Mojtaba Amini’s injuries to The New York Times, saying that they were more serious than initially reported and that he was being transported to Tehran for treatment.
The NYT reports that #Iran's regime's ambassador to #Lebanon Mojtaba Amani, who is essentially an #IRGCterrorists affiliate, lost one eye and severely injured his other eye when a pager he was carrying exploded today. Stands in stark contrast to the downplaying of his injuries by… pic.twitter.com/rp4gIvvdXf
— Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) September 18, 2024
Hossein Soleimani, the editor-in-chief of Mashregh, the main IRGC news website, tweeted, “Unfortunately, the injuries inflicted on the Iranian ambassador in the eye area were very severe.”
A video published by Iranian news media outlets of Amini being transported to the hospital shows him on a street in Beirut in the chaotic aftermath of the attack with his eyes covered with bandages and the front of his white shirt covered in blood.
A video released by Iran's state-run media shows the moment the country's wounded ambassador, Mojtaba Amani, is transferred to the hospital following the attack on Hezbollah pagers. pic.twitter.com/DdlUIfSSJn
— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) September 17, 2024
According to Iranian media reports, two of Amini’s bodyguards were also wounded when their pagers exploded.
One of the IRGC members told the Times that the pagers beeped for around 10 seconds before exploding, prompting some to put the pagers close to their faces to check for a message.
The two IRGC members also said that the pagers were only used by Hezbollah members.
At least nine Hezbollah terrorists were killed and some 3,000 wounded in Lebanon when their pagers detonated, along with at least 14 other terrorists in neighboring Syria, according to unconfirmed reports. Senior Hezbollah officials were said to have been wounded in the blasts.
