The Israeli Army announced Friday the assassination of two senior Iranian officials: General Ismael Ahmadi, head of the Intelligence Division of the ‘Basij’ paramilitary forces, and a senior Intelligence Ministry commander identified as Mehdi Rastami Shmastan.
According to an Israeli Army statement, Ahmadi played a central role in the planning and execution of “terrorist attacks” carried out by ‘Basij’ forces, as well as in the imposition of Iran’s “regime values”.
Israel confirms death of senior Iranian intelligence commanders
🔴ELIMINATED: Esmail Ahmadi, Head of the Intelligence Division of the Basij Force, as well as several other senior commanders in a strike on the senior leadership of the Basij Force in the heart of Tehran.
Ahmadi played a central role in advancing and executing terror attacks… pic.twitter.com/M9mwVmlvH7
– Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) March 20, 2026
While Shmastan was killed “in a precision strike,” according to another Army statement, which indicated that “he was considered a key figure in promoting terrorist activities against Israeli and Jewish civilians around the world.”
Ahmadi’s funeral was held Friday along with four other servicemen in the city of Borazjan in Iran’s southwestern province of Bushehr, on the shores of the Persian Gulf.
The ‘Basij’ (mobilization, in Persian) is a volunteer paramilitary force created in 1979 after the Islamic revolution, integrated into the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) and performing both internal security and logistical support functions.
These assassinations, the IDF said in the latest statement, add “to the list of dozens of Iranian regime commanders killed, including senior Intelligence Ministry commanders who were targeted in the operation”.
Earlier today, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard announced the death of its spokesman, Brigadier General Ali Mohamad Naini, in one of the latest episodes in which a senior Iranian official has been killed in U.S.-Israeli attacks.
The assassination campaign also killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, on the first day of the war on February 28, and senior military officers such as the commander-in-chief of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, General Mohamad Pakpur, and the chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, General Abdorrahim Mousavi.
Throughout this week, Israel announced the assassination of heavyweights within the Iranian regime such as the former secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran Ali Lariyani; or the commander of the Basij, Gholamreza Soleimani.
Filed under: Iranian intelligence high command
With information from EFE
