Tehran(IP) - Jamshid Sharmahd, the Tondar (Thunder) terrorist group leader, who led an armed and sabotage operation in Iran from the United States, has been arrested following a complex operation in 2020.

Iran PressIran news: In a report, the Ministry of Intelligence announced that Jamshid Sharmahd has masterminded five terrorist acts during operations in the past years and has more than 23 failed terrorist operations in his record. The first court hearing of Jamshid Sharmahd was held on February 6, presided over by Judge Salavati.

In 2008, Sharmahd masterminded and directed the explosion operation in the Seyyed al-Shohada Hosseiniyah in Shiraz. In that terrorist act, 14 people were killed, and 215 mourners were injured.

The Thunder terrorist group has also planned to carry out several large-scale operations in recent years. The operation included the explosion of the Sivand Dam in Shiraz, the blast of cyanide bombs at the Tehran Book Fair, and the explosion of the shrine of Imam Khomeini during a public ceremony. The terrorist operation failed due to the intelligence domination of the Ministry of Intelligence.

Details of Thunder terrorist acts

On April 16, 2008, an explosion took place in the Martyrs' Hosseiniyah in Shiraz, killing 14 people and injuring at least 200. At that time, various speculations were spread about the perpetrators of this terrorist incident. On April 20, 2008, the Supreme National Security Council of Iran issued a statement denying the explosion of any bomb or the transfer of explosives from inside or outside by dissident elements in the blast of the Rahpooyan Vesal Center.

However, on May 13, 2008, a spokesman for the Iranian judiciary announced the arrest of 12 bombers. He said these individuals were affiliated with the Kingdom Assembly of Iran and were agents of the United States and Britain. On November 29, 2008, Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court of Tehran, after convicting three of the defendants in the explosion of the Rahpooyan Vesal Center, sentenced Mohsen Eslamian, Ali Asghar Pashtar, and Roozbeh Yahyazadeh to death and execution in public. Finally, they were executed on April 10, 2009, in Adilabad Prison in Shiraz. The second terrorist operation of this group took place on June 20, 2009, in the shrine of Imam Khomeini.

 Of course, the bomber failed to bring an explosive device to the shrine of Imam Khomeini and detonated the bomb in front of the shrine's shoe holding room, which injured eight Iranians. In this explosion, Bijan Abbasi, codenamed "Pirooz" (one of the Kingdom Assembly of Iran), was killed.

In another operation, terrorists who were building a bomb in a hotel in Tehran were exposed by an explosion and fire and were arrested by security forces.

The explosion in front of the house of Nahavand prayers leader on January 14, 2010, is another terrorist act of the Kingdom Assembly of Iran. According to Fars News Agency, the group was also involved in the assassination of Martyr Massoud Ali Mohammadi, a scientist in Iran's nuclear industry. However, the group denied involvement in the assassination.

The Thunder terrorist group also sought chemical and microbial terrorist operations at the Tehran International Book Fair and terrorist operations at the Russian Consulate in Rasht in its plans by the Western intelligence services. Still, it did not succeed with the vigilance of the security forces. Other unsuccessful terrorist plans of this group include the plan to blow up tankers and oil transmission lines in the port of Genaveh, the bombing of the shrine of Imam Masoumeh (AS), and the Iranian Parliament. Still, these plans also failed and were not implemented.

Tondar (Thunder) group's  formation history and relationship with Sharmahd

The Thunder terrorist group was formed in 2004 by "Fathullah Manouchehri," nicknamed "Frood Fooladvand." This person announced his goal of creating this group to overthrow the Islamic Republic within a year. The TV channel "Your TV," which belongs to Fooladvand, is responsible for broadcasting and publicizing the positions of this group. The ring leader of this terrorist group disappeared in 2006, and no one knows his exact fate. His daughter only claims that her father lives in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (Israel).

After Fooladvand's disappearance, Jamshid Sharmahd was introduced as the leader of this group. Jamshid Sharmahd, born on March 24, 1955, was born in Tehran to an Iranian and German family and completed his pre-university education alternately in Iran and Germany.

In 1983, at the end of the Iran-Iraq war, he emigrated to Germany for the last time with his wife and one-year-old child. He immigrated to the United States in 2003. While living in Los Angeles, Jamshid Sharmahd got acquainted with the " Kingdom Assembly of Iran " group and thus began his collaboration with the group's television and its director, Foroud Fooladvand. In 2004, Jamshid Sharmahd, using his professional experience in the field of the Internet, launched the Tonder.org website as the political and propaganda media of this group. In 2007, Sharmahd and his friends launched Radio Tonder in Los Angeles.

While Sharmahd was thought to be living in the United States, and it was not possible to arrest him, the Ministry of Intelligence announced his arrest in a report in august of 2020.

In the first session of the Sharmahd hearing in the court on February 6, 2022, a video released about Jamshid Sharmahd shows him announcing in a television interview before his arrest that his (Tonder) group was planning armed operations and that he did not care whether criminals were killed (according to him) or innocent people.

In the first court session, another clip of Jamshid Sharmahd's remarks before his arrest was screened in court, in which the defendant states, "We are not ashamed to kill anyone. We did not deny the Shiraz bombing. We are assassinating and creating panic." 

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