Iranian media and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) reported on Friday that several high-ranking officials of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Basij were killed during a series of Israeli air strikes. Among the dead are IRGC spokesman Ali Mohammad Naini, head of intelligence and deputy commander of the Basij forces Esmail Ahmadi-Moghaddam, and head of the IRGC Aerospace Force Mehdi Ghorishi.
Israel described the IRGC leaders as key propaganda figures and pillars of the crackdown on protests, while the IRGC command in East Azerbaijan province reported the deaths of 12 Basij members in a raid targeting the city of Tabriz on Thursday evening.
Following these developments, Iran's senior military spokesperson, General Abolfazl Shekarchi, warned that "parks, recreational areas, and tourist sites" around the world would not be safe for Tehran's adversaries, renewing concerns about the potential for Iranian attacks extending beyond the Middle East.
Since the start of the war, monitoring agencies estimate that about one-third of the strikes have claimed the lives of dozens of IRGC and Basij members in a precision targeting campaign aimed at dismantling the regime's complex security network involved in suppressing protests, according to observer reports. This effort is supported by information gathered in part from photographs and videos shared by Iranian citizens on social media.
Tehran has seen an increased presence of Basij checkpoints since the conflict began, with residents reporting that their neighborhoods have seen five to six new checkpoints for vehicle and document inspections and phone seizures. Basij forces use these posts to assist security agencies in gathering information and detaining activists.
Monitoring of armed events indicated that the first strikes on checkpoints began on March 11, documenting at least 15 incidents in a single day according to data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED), as reported by the Associated Press.
Persian news services and media platforms have recorded citizen contributions showing the locations of Basij posts and military hideouts, sharing coordinates and photos/videos, which reports suggest that Israeli intelligence is using to identify targets. Communications from Israeli sources encourage Iranians to send information about regime forces, including statements urging continuous reporting.
Despite a widespread internet blackout imposed during the protests, services like Starlink remain available for accessing the global network. Reports indicated the confiscation of some Starlink dishes and VPN cards and restrictions on domestic internet for specialized sectors.
Human rights organizations and documentation centers have reported that Iranian authorities have detained individuals for filming checkpoints or sharing information about them, while continuing to hold protesters, political activists, minorities, and former detainees. Reports indicated gunfire at checkpoints, with two teenage brothers killed in one incident after shots were fired during a celebratory horn.
The Israeli Defense Forces continue to release footage from the cockpit of their aerial operations to show the frequency of strikes, while Iranian citizens display clips showing the aftermath of strikes on Basij and IRGC facilities, including a strike on a Basij complex in Semnan.
Accompanying this are scenes from social media in Tehran showing IRGC and Basij members hiding under bridges, in tunnels, and even inside empty schools to avoid strikes. In other clips, individuals appeared to change their uniforms to evade aerial recognition.
The internal scene is witnessing an escalation in repressive measures; death sentences have been announced for three individuals arrested during January protests, and semi-official media reported the arrest of over one hundred individuals accused of collaborating with hostile states or sharing media reports with foreign entities.
The developments remain a source of regional security tension amid increasing international warnings and the monitoring of citizen information turning into targeting tools, exacerbating the consequences of the conflict within and outside Iran.