Top Iranian intelligence chief killed

The head of intelligence for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Mohammad Kazemi, was killed on Sunday in an Israeli airstrike, according to Iran’s state news agency IRNA.

The report states that Kazemi, along with two other high-ranking IRGC intelligence officers — Hassan Mohaghegh and Mohsen Bagheri — died in the strike, which Iranian officials have described as an “assassination”.

“Three intelligence generals, Mohammad Kazemi, Hassan Mohaghegh and Mohsen Bagheri, were martyred,” read a statement from the IRGC published by IRNA.

Kazemi was a key figure within Iran’s intelligence and security apparatus, having taken over as head of the IRGC’s intelligence branch in 2022. His role involved overseeing operations both inside Iran and across the region, including activities linked to Iranian proxy forces such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria.

While the exact location of the strike has not yet been confirmed by Israeli or Western sources, the killing marks a significant escalation in the covert war between Israel and Iran, particularly in the context of ongoing regional hostilities and Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

Israel has not officially claimed responsibility for the operation, in line with its policy of strategic ambiguity in similar past incidents. However, the strike follows recent Israeli actions targeting Iranian military infrastructure and personnel both within Iran and abroad, including in Syria.