Iran receives bodies of Guards killed in US-Saudi strikes in Iraq

Iranian state media said on Friday that the bodies of five members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) killed in joint US-Saudi strikes in Iraq this week had been returned.

"The bodies of five IRGC members killed in the recent US-Saudi attacks on Iraq were brought into the country through the Mehran border crossing," in western Ilam province, the IRNA state news agency reported.

The United States and Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday they had struck Iran-backed militants in Iraq in response to recent attacks on the Gulf kingdom.

The strikes targeted positions belonging to the Hashed al-Shaabi, an Iraqi armed coalition that includes several powerful pro-Iran groups, killing at least 20 militants, including the five Iranians.

The IRGC's Quds Force oversees Iran's operations abroad, and Guards members killed outside Iran are often affiliated with the unit.

The United States killed the Quds Force's commander Qasem Soleimani in an airstrike in Baghdad in 2020, along with Hashed al-Shaabi deputy leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.