Ali Mohammad Naini, spokesperson for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was killed in a dawn airstrike on March 20, 2026, in what the IRGC described as a “criminal cowardly terrorist attack” carried out by U.S. and Israeli forces.
Tasnim News Agency, closely linked to the elite military unit, confirmed the death, marking the latest blow in a string of targeted strikes that have decimated Iran’s top leadership since the outbreak of the 2026 Iran war on February 28.
Naini, a veteran commander with more than four decades in the Islamic Republic’s military and propaganda operations, had served as IRGC spokesperson and deputy head of public relations since 2024.
Minutes before the strike, he publicly challenged U.S. naval activity in the Gulf, directly questioning President Donald Trump’s claims. While Israeli sources have privately confirmed the strike, neither Israel nor the United States has formally commented.
The assassination follows the recent killings of key figures: Ali Larijani, Iran’s top security official and senior political adviser, died in an Israeli airstrike around March 17-18, along with his son and several aides.
