Israeli and US air attacks pound Iran as assassination campaign of country’s leadership continues. Published On 20 Mar 202620 Mar 2026Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps spokesperson has been killed in overnight strikes carried out jointly by the United States and Israel, the IRGC said, the latest in a mounting toll of senior officials assassinated since the war began.Ali Mohammad Naini, a 68-year-old brigadier general who took up the IRGC spokesman role in 2024, “was martyred in the criminal cowardly terrorist attack by the American-Zionist side at dawn”, the IRGC said in a statement on Friday.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listHis death came just hours after he appeared on national television to insist that Iran retained full capacity to manufacture missiles, even under wartime conditions.“Our missile industry deserves a perfect score … and there is no concern in this regard, because even under wartime conditions we continue missile production,” Naini was quoted by the Fars news agency as saying.On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “Iran no longer has the capacity to enrich uranium and manufacture ballistic missiles”.The Israeli army said on Friday that it was carrying out strikes across eastern Tehran, as the country marks the Persian New Year, Nowruz, which this year coincides with Eid al-Fitr.Al Jazeera’s Mohamed Vall, reporting from Tehran, described the mood in the capital as “hushed”, with none of the customary festivities visible on the streets.Naini’s killing is the latest in a string of high-profile assassinations that have gutted Iran’s establishment in less than three weeks.Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the opening hours of the joint US-Israeli military campaign on February 28. He has since been replaced by his son, Mojtaba Khamenei. Advertiseme …
