Israel has claimed to have killed Iran’s security chief responsible for suppressing protests in its latest airstrikes, as the regime launched a fresh crackdown on dissent in the Islamic Republic.
Israel’s military announced on Tuesday it had killed Gholamreza Soleimani, head of the Basij, the all-volunteer force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard that is responsible for suppressing protests in the country.
Soleimani, believed to be 61 or 62, was killed in an airstrike on Monday, the Israel Defense Forces said.
It said he had acted as the Basij commander for six years, overseeing the Iranian regime’s suppression of dissent and mass arrests of protesters.
Security forces in Iran have arrested suspected collaborators with foreign governments, while threatening would-be protesters with death to try to quell an uprising.
Armed regime thugs on motorcycles have been spotted patrolling the streets in the capital Tehran, where residents rarely leave their homes at night for fear of attack, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The men, usually in plainclothes with their faces covered, have also set up security checkpoints across cities in Iran, routinely stopping and searching vehicles.
At least 500 people have been arrested in Iran since the start of the war on Feb. 28, accused of sharing information with international media or enemy forces, the commander of Iran’s police force, Ahmad-Reza Radan, said on Sunday.
Israel also announced Tuesday that it had killed top Iranian security official Ali Larijani, days after he goaded President Trump in a live interview.
Larijani, head of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, was taken out days after joining Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Tehran on Friday for a rally.
“It’s clear they’re running out of steam,” Larijani told a TV interviewer in reference to Operation Epic Fury. “Trump’s problem is that he doesn’t understand that the Iranian nation is mature and determined.”
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