Soleimani is one of several senior Iranian officials killed in US-Israeli war since Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s February 28 assassination.
Published On 17 Mar 202617 Mar 2026
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has confirmed that Gholamreza Soleimani, the commander of the IRGC’s internal security militia, has been killed in the US-Israeli war on the country.
In a statement shared by Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency, the IRGC said Soleimani – who led the Basij unit – was killed in an “attack by the American-Zionist enemy”, without providing further detail.
He is one of several Iranian officials killed in the war since the United States and Israel assassinated Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on the first day of the conflict on February 28.
Earlier on Tuesday, the Israeli military had claimed in a social media post that Soleimani was killed in a “targeted strike yesterday in the heart of Tehran”.
Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, was also killed in a separate Israeli strike on Tuesday, the Iranian state media confirmed.
The US Treasury records Soleimani’s birth year as 1965. He has been sanctioned by the US, the European Union and other countries for his alleged role in suppressing dissent through the Basij.
A volunteer paramilitary force under the IRGC, the Basij founded after the 1979 revolution and tasked with enforcing internal security nationwide.
It operates local branches across cities and is frequently deployed on the frontlines of protests.
That includes the antigovernment demonstrations that erupted across Iran in January, in which thousands were reportedly killed, and the 2009 mass protests against what opponents called a stolen presidential election.
The Basij and other internal security forces have been frequent targets of attack by the US and Israeli forces so far in the war.