On 22 May 2022, Colonel Khodaei was returning home in the south of Tehran when he was fatally shot five times by motorcycle-riding gunmen on Sunday afternoon in his car, SAIPA Pride, a cheap non-armored car, outside his home at around 4 pm (11:30 GMT).[13] There has been no claim of responsibility for the assassination, but according to The Guardian the assassination style increases the chance of being linked to a series of previous motorcycle killings in Iran imputed to Israel, such as Assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists.[14]