Israel claims killing of Two Senior IRGC Commanders in Separate Strikes on Iran

Israel’s military and intelligence services said Saturday that two high-ranking commanders of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were killed in separate missile strikes deep inside Iranian territory, marking a significant escalation in the shadow war between Tehran and Jerusalem.

According to the New York Post, the first target was identified as Saeed Izadi, described by Israeli officials as “the founder of the Iranian regime’s plan to destroy Israel.” According to Defense Minister Israel Katz, Izadi was “assassinated when the Jewish state rained missiles down on an apartment in Iran’s Qom province.” Izadi had overseen the Palestine Corps of the IRGC’s overseas arm, commonly known as the Quds Force, and was a “key coordinator” between Iran and Hamas. “As part of his role, Izadi was responsible for increasing the financial funding from Iran to Hamas for terrorist activities against Israel,” Katz said in an X post, highlighting Izadi’s involvement in arming the group ahead of the October 7, 2023, massacre.

The Israeli military later said that it killed a second commander of the Guards’ overseas arm, who it identified as Benham Shariyari, during a strike on his vehicle overnight in western Tehran.

Later overnight, Israeli forces struck a vehicle in western Iran, killing Benham Shahriyari, the Quds Force’s head of the Weapons Transfer Unit. “Shahriyari was responsible for all weapons transfers from the Iranian regime to its proxies across the Middle East in order to directly advance the Iranian regime’s plan to destroy Israel,” Katz said. Shahriyari’s unit supplied missiles and rockets to Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, and the Houthis in Yemen, making him a linchpin in Iran’s regional effort to challenge Israeli security.

“These eliminations represent a severe blow to the ability of the terrorist organizations surrounding Israel to regroup and strengthen after being heavily damaged by the IDF during the war,” Katz added, referring to Israel’s ongoing military campaign against Hamas in Gaza. Israeli officials say that by decapitating the IRGC’s external coordination network, they hope to stem the flow of weapons and funds that sustain attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers.

The IRGC has not publicly confirmed the deaths of Izadi or Shahriyari. Tehran routinely denounces such operations as acts of state terrorism and often vows retaliation, raising concerns of wider confrontation in the region.