ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Israel on Saturday claimed to have killed two commanders in Iran’s elite Quds Force. “ELIMINATED: Saeed Izadi, a founder of the Iranian regime’s plan to destroy Israel, was eliminated in a precise IDF strike in the area of Qom,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on X. The IDF said Izadi commanded the Palestine Corps of the Quds Force, the elite wing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) primarily responsible for foreign operations, and accused him of being “one of the main orchestrators” of Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. Izadi was sanctioned by the United States and United Kingdom over ties to Hamas. The IDF said Izadi also directed Hamas forces operating in Lebanon. The IRGC has not confirmed his death. Tasnim News, which is affiliated with the IRGC, said a 16-year-old student was killed in an Israeli strike on a residential building in Qom on Saturday morning. In addition, 22 people were arrested in Qom accused of spying for Israel, according to Tasnim. The IDF also claimed it killed Behnam Shahriyari, who commanded the Weapons Transfer Unit of the Quds Force, in a precision strike in western Iran. “Shahriyari was responsible for all weapons transfers from the Iranian regime to its proxies across the Middle East in order to directly advance the Iranian regime’s plan to destroy Israel,” the IDF said. Shahriyari was also sanctioned by the US and UK. In 2024, he was charged in the US with terrorism and evading sanctions as part of a billion-dollar network selling oil to fund the Quds Force. His death has also not been confirmed by Iran. In its operation against Iran, Israel has targeted the top echelon of Iran’s military, killing many senior commanders including IRGC commander General Hossein Salami, chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Bagheri, head of IRGC’s main operational command General Gholam Ali Rashid, and head of the IRGC’s aerospace division General Amir Ali Hajizadeh. Ali Shamkhani, a senior aide to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and a key figure overseeing nuclear talks with the United States, was wrongly reported killed in Israel’s first wave of strikes on Iran. On Saturday morning he posted on social media that he had been injured. “It was my fate to survive wounded - so I remain, still the reason for the enemy’s hatred. I’d sacrifice myself a hundred times for #Iran. Fighting a nation of hope is a game that ends in ashes for its enemies. Victory, lit by martyrs’ smiles, is near,” he posted on X.
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