The diplomat's condition is so critical that it requires him to return to Iran for further treatment.
Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Mojtaba Amani lost one eye and suffered serious injuries to the other when a pager exploded in a series of such incidents that occurred on Tuesday, 17 September.
The New York Times reported this, citing two sources in Iran's Revolutionary Guard.
The report says that the Iranian diplomat's condition is so critical that it requires his return to Iran for further treatment.
After being wounded, the ambassador was rushed to a Beirut hospital with a bandaged eye and a blood-stained shirt.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the attack and, during talks with his Lebanese counterpart, expressed Tehran's readiness to arrange for the ambassador and other wounded to be transported for further assistance if necessary.
According to reports Iran, two of Amani's guards were also injured because they were also carrying pagers. One of them said the devices made a sound 10 seconds before the explosion, prompting some to check them, causing serious injuries.
As previously reported, the pagers appeared to have been specially modified to create “surgical explosions.” The attack targeted a key vulnerability in Hezbollah operations: communications between its members. Hezbollah leader Ghassan Nasrallah recently restricted the use of mobile phones due to concerns about Israeli espionage, making pagers the group's primary means of communication.
Recall that Israel's Mossad has not confirmed its involvement in the pager incidents, but both official Lebanon and Hezbollah have accused them of this.
Related topics:
More news
