New revelations from a former Revolutionary Guard commander say the senior IRGC commander of operations in Syria and Lebanon killed in an Israeli airstrike last week was one of the top generals trusted by Iran’s Supreme Leader.
Yahya Rahim Safavi, former commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and Khamenei's chief military adviser, disclosed that Mohammadreza Zahedi was among four key figures he introduced to Ali Khamenei. The others mentioned by Safavi were prominent figures Qasem Soleimani, Ahmad Kazemi, and Mohammad Hajazi, all of whom have now died, two of them assassinated.
Zahedi, along with several key IRGC officers, was killed in a precision Israeli airstrike targeting Iran's consulate building in Damascus on April 1. Zahedi's involvement in planning and executing a deadly attack against Israel on October 7, which claimed over 1,200 mostly civilian lives, is reported to have contributed to his killing.
Qasem Soleimani, renowned for his role within Iran's military and intelligence apparatus, was also assassinated in a US drone strike near Baghdad International Airport on January 3, 2020, during the tenure of former President Donald Trump. Soleimani had been instrumental in orchestrating Iran's military presence in Syria and fostering proxy militant groups in the region.
Ahmad Kazemi, who had held the position of Commander of the Air Forces of the Revolutionary Guards, died in a plane crash near Urmia, located in western Iran in 2006.
Mohammad Hajazi, a lifelong member of the Revolutionary Guard since May 1979, served as an intelligence and security advisor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. He rose through the ranks to become the Deputy Commander of the Quds Force, prior to his death from heart disease in 2021.
