Israel's military on Tuesday claimed it had killed Gholamreza Soleimani, the commander of Iran's Basij paramilitary force, in a targeted airstrike in Tehran.
The claim was made in a post on X, stating that the operation was based on intelligence and carried out by the Israeli Air Force in the heart of the Iranian capital.
According to Israel, Soleimani had led the Basij unit for the past six years. However, Iran has not yet confirmed or commented on the claim, leaving uncertainty over the development.
Senior Iranian Leader Also Targeted
In a separate statement, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said that Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, was also killed in another Israeli strike. Iran has not verified this claim either.
If confirmed, the deaths of Soleimani and Larijani would mark some of the highest-level assassinations in the ongoing conflict. Earlier in the war, former Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and several of his family members were reportedly killed in joint United States-Israeli strikes at the start of the conflict on February 28.
Role of Basij in Iran's Internal Security
According to Al Jazeera, the Basij is a volunteer paramilitary force operating under Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Formed after the 1979 revolution, it plays a major role in maintaining internal security across the country.
The group has often been deployed to suppress protests, including major anti-government demonstrations in recent years. Thousands were reportedly killed during crackdowns, including protests in January and earlier movements such as the 2009 unrest.
Soleimani, born in 1965, had been sanctioned by the United States and the European Union over allegations of human rights violations and suppressing dissent.