Story highlights
Ahmad Rezaie was found dead inside his Hotel Gloria hotel room
His father's website calls the death "suspicious," tying it to a deadly blast near Tehran
A Dubai police official says that there is no criminal suspicion
Ahmad's father, Mohsen, is head of Iran's Expediency Council and an ex-presidential hopeful
The son of a former Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander was found dead in a Dubai hotel room – with his father’s website calling the death “suspicious,” though police insisted it was not.
Numerous Iranian media on Sunday reported the death of Ahmad Rezaie inside Hotel Gloria, a four-star hotel in the coastal United Arab Emirates city.
Khalil Ebrahim Al Mansouri, head of the Dubai police’s criminal investigations department, said there is no criminal suspicion surrounding the man’s death. Al Mansouri, quoting the dead man’s brother, added that Ahmad suffered from epilepsy.
Yet Tabnak, a website owned by the dead man’s father, Mohsen Rezaie, claimed that Ahmad “was killed under suspicious circumstances.”
The same site noted that the death was “concurrent with the martyrdom of Mohsen Rezaie’s comrades in arms” on Saturday, referring to an explosion at a military base near Tehran.
At least 17 people were killed in that incident, after a munitions depot accidentally caught fire, lawmaker Hossein Garousi told state media. Lt. Gen. Ramezan Sharif reiterated Sunday that the blaze was accidental and dismissed the possibility of sabotage.
The Tabnak report did not elaborate on what connection, if any, existed between Ahmad Rezaie’s death and the deadly explosion.
Shahram Gilabadi – a spokesman for Iran’s Expediency Council, of which Mohsen Rezaie is secretary – told Tabnak, “The death is currently being investigated.”
The semi-official Mehrs News Agency reported that Ahmad Rezaie died from an electric shock.
Mohsen Rezaie served for years as head of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard. In 2009, he ran – unsuccessfully – as a conservative candidate along with others against incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
He continues to play a leading role with the Expediency Council, which mediates between the parliament and the non-elected Guardian Council led by Ayatollah Khamenei.