Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has confirmed the death of the commander of its Basij forces, hours after Israel also killed the regime's security chief Ali Larijani, as attacks on Tehran continue.
Larijani, 67, was killed by a US-Israeli air attack as he was visiting his daughter in the eastern outskirts of a Tehran suburb, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency said on Tuesday.
The veteran Iranian politician was one of the most powerful figures in the Islamic Republic, an architect of its security policy, and a close adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei until the supreme leader's death in an airstrike last month.
The Fars news agency also published an obituary in which the Revolutionary Guards paid tribute to Gholamreza Soleimani and congratulated him on his "honourable martyrdom".
The IRGC - Iran's elite military force - said the "Basij fighters" would never stop seeking revenge for their slain leader.
In a video posted on social media, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Larijani had been killed in a strike in Tehran on Monday.
He pulled small card out of his suit jacket pocket and said: "Today I erased two names on the punch card, and you see how many more to go on this batch."
"Alongside him, we also eliminated the commander of the Basij – they are the gangsters' assistants who are terrorising the population in the streets of Tehran and other Iranian cities," he said on X.
Israel Defense Forces also posted about the killing of Soleimani, saying Basij forces under him were responsible for the violent suppression of mass anti-government protests in Iran in January.
The killing of Soleimani had inflicted lasting damage on the militia's capabilities, the statement said.
The Basij-e Mostazafin, or "Mobilization of the Oppressed," is a paramilitary force that was established after Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The militia, which recruits largely from younger segments of society, plays a key role in suppressing dissent and is part of the IRGC.
The Israeli military said its air force was continuing to target members of the elite paramilitary units operating at more than 10 different locations in the Iranian capital.
Israel has killed dozens of senior figures in Iran's hardline clerical leadership during the current conflict, including former ayatollah Khamenei on the opening day of the war on February 28.
The Israeli military said it was targeting "Iranian regime infrastructure" with strikes across Tehran as well as Hezbollah sites in Beirut.
Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Israel "had, in effect already won the war", but gave no timeline for when the war might end.
The head of the United States' National Counterterrorism Center, Joseph Kent, resigned on Tuesday, saying in a letter to Trump that he "cannot in good conscience" back the US war in Iran.
Iran "posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby," Kent said in a social media post.
Larijani was appointed to the post in August 2025 after previously serving as a close adviser to Khamenei.
His rise to the senior security job had surprised some observers, as he had built a reputation inside and outside Iran as the pragmatic face of the Iranian establishment.
Larijani had presidential ambitions but was barred from running in the 2024 election by the Guardian Council, which vets all legislation and candidates for elected offices.
Chaired by the president, it comprises ministers and senior military officials, while its secretary general - the role held by Larijani - serves as a representative of the supreme leader.
Its decisions can take effect without parliamentary approval once endorsed by the supreme leader.
Larijani studied mathematics and was a long-time figure in Iranian politics, including serving as a nuclear negotiator in talks with Washington. In recent years, as tensions with Western powers escalated, he had expressed more moderate views.
Like many senior Iranian officials, he began his career in the IRGC, rising to the rank of brigadier general before leaving active service in the early 1990s.
Exile media outlet IranWire reported that he played a key role in the suppression of recent mass protests, in which thousands of demonstrators were killed in early January.
with AP and Reuters