Israeli and American airstrikes continue on Iran as the campaign to assassinate the country’s leadership continues.
Published on 20 March 2026
The IRGC reported that the spokesman for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has been killed in joint overnight strikes by the United States and Israel, the latest in a growing number of senior officials killed since the war began.
Brigadier General Ali Mohammad Naini, 68, who took on the role of IRGC spokesman in 2024, was “martyred in a criminal cowardly terrorist attack by the American-Zionist side at dawn”, the IRGC said in a statement on Friday.
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His death came just hours after insisting on national television that Iran retained the full capability to produce missiles even in wartime circumstances.
“Our missile industry deserves a perfect score… and there is nothing to worry about in this regard, because we continue missile production even in wartime conditions,” Fars news agency quoted Naini as saying.
On Thursday Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “Iran no longer has the ability to enrich uranium and build ballistic missiles”.
The Israeli military said Friday it was carrying out strikes in eastern Tehran as the country marks Nowruz, the Persian New Year, which coincides with Eid al-Fitr this year.
Al Jazeera’s Mohammad Waal, reporting from Tehran, described the mood in the capital as “calm”, with no traditional celebrations visible in the streets.
Naini’s murder is the latest in a series of high-profile assassinations that have devastated Iran’s establishment in the space of three weeks.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was assassinated in the early hours of the joint military operation. He has since been replaced by his son Mojtaba Khamenei.
Earlier this week, Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and one of the most influential figures in Iran’s establishment, was killed in an attack along with his son and several aides.
The head of the Basij paramilitary forces, Brigadier General Gholamreza Soleimani, and Intelligence Minister Ismail Khatib were also confirmed dead within the same 48-hour period.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made little effort to hide Washington’s glee, saying on Thursday that “the last job anyone in the world wants right now” is a senior leadership role in the IRGC or Basij.
However, other US officials suggest that Washington’s and Israel’s objectives in Israel do not match.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told the House Intelligence Committee this week that the U.S. and Israel’s objectives “are different,” adding that while Israel was “focused on disabling the Iranian leadership,” Trump’s goal was to destroy Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities and “their navy.”
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has described the killings as a means of opening the way for Iranians to reclaim their country, saying on Wednesday that the campaign against the country’s leadership “will not happen all at once” but that determination will give Iranians “the chance to take their destiny into their own hands.”
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the US and Israel still fail to understand that Iran’s political structure is not dependent on any one individual.
“The presence or absence of any one person does not affect this structure,” he said.
