International
oi-Prakash KL
The US and Israel have taken down yet another prominent leader from Iran in the ongoing conflict with Tehran as Brigadier-General Ali Mohammad Naini, the spokesman for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), was killed in joint strikes on Friday, Iranian state media reported.
He was killed hours after he warned Washington, daring American naval forces to enter the Persian Gulf.
Brigadier-General Ali Mohammad Naini, Iran’s IRGC spokesman, was killed in joint US-Israeli strikes on Friday, shortly after warning US naval forces and amid UK sanctions imposed in October 2024.
The IRGC confirmed the death in a statement, describing Naini as “martyred in the criminal cowardly terrorist attack by the American-Zionist side at dawn.” The strikes, which have escalated regional tensions, targeted the senior military figure just hours after his latest public challenge to the West.
Who Was Ali Mohammad Naini?
Naini, who served as the IRGC’s chief spokesman from 2024 until his death, was no ordinary military mouthpiece. A second brigadier-general, he had been the public face of the Guard’s media operations, deftly managing its relationship with Iranian state broadcasters and foreign press. Before assuming the role, he succeeded Brigadier-General Ramazan Sharif, inheriting a position that required both rhetorical firepower and ideological discipline.
What set Naini apart was his dual identity. Alongside his military duties, he was a professor of social sciences at Imam Hossein University in Tehran, an institution closely tied to the IRGC. Iranian media frequently cited his academic background to frame him as a strategist who blended military insight with political commentary-a reliable voice for the Islamic Republic’s hardline posture.
In his final hours, he had openly mocked former US president Donald Trump’s assertion that Iran’s navy had been destroyed. “Didn’t Trump say that Iran’s navy has been destroyed? If so, let him send his ships into the Persian Gulf if he dares,” Naini was quoted as saying by the semi-official Tasnim news agency. He also boasted of Iran’s missile programme, telling Fars News: “Our missile industry deserves a perfect score… even under wartime conditions we continue missile production.”
Naini had long been a target of Western sanctions. In October 2024, the United Kingdom designated him under the Iran (Sanctions) Regulations 2023, branding him an “involved person” for his role in promoting IRGC-linked threats against Israel. The sanctions imposed an asset freeze and travel ban, with British authorities citing his statements as evidence of hostile Iranian activity.
To the IRGC and its supporters, Naini was a martyr who embodied the regime’s defiance. To his adversaries, he was a propagandist whose words carried the weight of military threat. His death marks the latest flashpoint in a widening conflict, leaving a vacancy at the heart of the Guard’s communications machine-and a legacy forged in the very brinkmanship that defined his final moments.
Iranian leaders killed by US/Israel In The Ongoing Conflict
These are among the most prominent Iranian figures confirmed or widely reported dead in US‑ or Israeli‑led operations since 2025-2026:
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – Supreme Leader of Iran, killed in a February 2026 US-Israel joint strike on his Tehran compound; Iranian state media later confirmed his death, marking the first time a sitting supreme leader has been eliminated in this manner.
Ali Shamkhani – Former secretary of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council and defense‑council secretary; killed in the same February 28, 2026 strikes that took Khamenei.
Mohammad Pakpour – Commander‑in‑Chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC); reported killed in US-Israeli airstrikes targeting senior IRGC leadership in Tehran.
Ali Larijani – Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and one of the regime’s top decision‑makers; killed in a March 2026 Israeli precision strike inside Tehran, described as one of the highest‑profile assassinations since Khamenei’s death.
Gholamreza Soleimani – Senior Basij commander (Basij is the IRGC’s volunteer paramilitary force); killed alongside Larijani in the same Israeli strike, in a reported hit on a Basij headquarters.
Other senior figures reported killed in the same wave of February-March strikes include:
Major General Mohammad Shirazi (head of Khamenei’s military bureau),
Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi (Chief of the General Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces),
Saleh Asadi, Aziz Nasirzadeh, Hossein Jabal Amelian, Reza Mozaffari‑Nia (senior defense and IRGC officials).
Iran’s presidency has also reportedly lost high‑ranking ministers in rapid succession, with President Pezeshkian confirming the assassination of at least one senior minister in March 2026, described as part of a broader campaign against the regime’s leadership.
