An Iranian aerospace engineer who died on May 31 was deliberately poisoned at a dinner party, the Iranian opposition-affiliated news website Iran International reported Sunday, quoting unverified sources.
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On Saturday, the Kuwaiti news outlet Al-Qabas reported that Dr. Ayoob Entezari began bleeding internally after attending the dinner.
According to Iran International, the person who hosted Dr. Ayoob Entezari has since fled the country.
"Ayoob Entezari was invited late last month to a professional dinner by another person," the channel reported.
"A friendly relationship developed between them and Entezari accepted an invitation to dinner. At the end of the meal, as he was walking home, he suddenly felt ill and collapsed," it was reported.
"Entezari was rushed to Sa'id al-Shuhada Hospital in the city of Yazd, where futile attempts were made to save him – he was eventually declared dead," Iran International said.
Authorities in Yazd province denied he was a significant figure, describing him as a regular employee in an industrial company. This came after a letter written by the governor called him a "martyr" and a picture allegedly showed officials paying a condolence visit to his home.
Since the incident, Iranian security forces have launched a manhunt to find the person suspected of poisoning Entezari.
On Saturday, Iranian media reported that Entezari, a missile designer, died of "food poisoning."
Iran denied all reports, claiming that the scientist was working in an industrial plant and died of an illness, accusing one of his relatives of spreading rumors.
The report comes after a Saudi news outlet claimed last week that a colonel in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards' elite Quds Force had been killed after he was suspected of espionage.
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The Saudi-backed Iran International cited sources who said a member of the Quds Force Unit 840, Col. Ali Esmailzadeh, died after falling off the roof of his home in Karaj on May 30.
Esmailzadeh was a close colleague of Col. Hassan Sayyad Khodaei, the Quds Force leader who was killed by two motorcyclists on May 22.
IRGC officials told his family that the death was a suicide, noting the psychological toll of his separation from his wife. Esmailzadeh also left a note, they said.
i24NEWS contributed to this report.
