US-Israeli airstrikes after almost three weeks of war have killed Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei and a whole echelon of the political and military elite in the Islamic republic.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday said Iran is ‘being decimated’ while the Israeli army on its Persian-language X account described the Iranian leadership as a ‘house of cards that is collapsing’.
Here is a recap of the some of the key figures killed so far in the war:
- Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Khamenei, Iran’s leader since 1989, was killed in the first hour of the war on February 28 in a strike on a meeting of senior officials in Tehran that also left his daughter-in-law, daughter and at least one grandchild dead, according to reports.
- National security council chief Ali Larijani
The killing of Larijani, a non-cleric but a pillar of the system for decades, was likely the biggest loss to the Islamic republic after the death of Ali Khamenei. He was killed on March 17 in an Israeli strike, reportedly in the Tehran region and which also killed family members.
- Revolutionary Guards commander-in-chief Mohammad Pakpour
Pakpour, previously head of the Guards’ ground forces, only headed the force whose task it is to keep the revolution alive since June 2025 when previous commander-in-chief Hossein Salami was killed in Israel’s 12-day war against Iran. He was killed on the first day of the war.
- Intelligence Minister Esmael Khatib
A cleric, Khatib was killed by an Israeli strike in Tehran early on March 18. Minister of intelligence since 2021, he was accused by rights groups of playing a key role in the suppression of protests.
- Defence Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh
A veteran of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, Nasirzadeh had served as defence minister since 2024. He was also killed in a strike on the first day of the war.
- Basij commander Gholamreza Soleimani
Soleimani headed the Basij, a volunteer paramilitary group that is a branch of the Revolutionary Guards and notorious among rights groups for suppressing protests. He was killed in an airstrike on March 17.
- Revolutionary Guards spokesman Ali Mohammad Naini
Naini was killed at dawn Friday in what the Guards described as a ‘cowardly’ attack by the United States and Israel. Just before his death was confirmed the Fars news agency issued a statement quoting Naini as saying Iran’s missile production deserved a “perfect score” and was continuing despite the war.
