Mr. Fereidoun Jourak, an Iranian renowned film director and scenario writer unveiled Ahmadinejad’s direct role in assassination of Air Force Major Mohammad Hassan Mansouri in Istanbul in 1987.
He told the conference that in 1988 he was assigned by the clerical army’s counter-intelligence department to make a film on the basis of an interview with Ahmadinejad for training purposes of terrorist hit squads operating outside Iran.
In several sessions of interviews with Ahmadinejad lasting many hours, he gave details of the operation to assassinate the air force pilot which was planned and carried out with his direct involvement, Jourak said.
Major Mansouri flew F-16 fighters and was a supporter of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran. In protest to continuation of war with Iraq he defected to Saudi Arabia during a training flight in 1982.
Ahmadinejad who was a member of the Revolutionary Guards Corps Qods Force, responsible for extraterritorial operations, was assigned to assassinate Major Mansouri whose continued activities in exile was a source of great concern for the regime. Mansouri maintained his contacts within the regime’s air force while in exile and discouraged his fellow pilots to operate for the regime.