The chief of intelligence of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was killed in an airstrike on Monday, state media said.
Majid Khademi, who accused Donald Trump of fuelling anti-government protests in Iran, is the latest key figure to have been killed in strikes since the US-Israel war on the Islamic Republic began on 28 February.
The Israeli military on Monday claimed it killed Khademi, along with another top IRGC officer, in overnight strikes. “Khademi was one of the IRGC’s most senior commanders and had accumulated extensive experience over many years,” the IDF wrote on X.
Israel also claimed it killed Yazdan Mir, known by his alias Sardar Bagheri, who headed the IRGC Quds Force’s clandestine Unit 840.
The IRGC confirmed Khademi’s death, saying that the “powerful and educated” head of its Intelligence Organisation was “martyred in the criminal terrorist attack by the American-Zionist enemy… at dawn today”.
Khademi replaced his predecessor, Mohammad Kazemi, in 2025 after he was killed during the 12-day Iran-Israel war. He spent decades in intelligence and counter-espionage roles while rising through Iran’s security apparatus.
Before his appointment, Khademi headed the Guards’ Intelligence Protection Organisation 2022 onwards, charged with internal surveillance and counter-intelligence, and held senior roles in Iran’s defence ministry.
The IRGC intelligence arm is one of Iran’s most powerful security bodies, with a central role in domestic surveillance to counter foreign influence, and often operating in parallel with the civilian intelligence ministry.
More follows
