Hossein Salami

Overview

Hossein Salami (1960–2025) was an Iranian military commander who led the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from April 2019 until his death in June 2025. He joined the organization at the start of the Iran–Iraq War, held operational and educational commands, and later directed its air force and served as deputy commander. As IRGC commander, he oversaw an organization central to the Iranian regime’s missile program and support for armed groups across the region. He repeatedly threatened the destruction of Israel, defended long-range missile development and met leaders of the regime’s regional network. The Israeli Air Force eliminated him in strikes on Iran during Operation Rising Lion on June 13, 2025.

Early life

Salami was born in 1960 in Vaneshan, a village in Iran’s Isfahan Province. He began studying mechanical engineering in Tehran, but interrupted his studies when Iraq invaded Iran in September 1980. He entered the IRGC as the Iran–Iraq War began. His early service took him to Iran’s Kurdistan Province and later to the Khuzestan front in the country’s southwest. During the war, he served in the IRGC fleet’s Noah Headquarters and held commands within the 25th Karbala Division and the 14th Imam Hussein Division.

After the war, Salami completed his education at the Iran University of Science and Technology. He also earned a master’s degree in defense management from Islamic Azad University. His studies followed years of wartime command rather than preceding his entry into the IRGC. Alongside later military appointments, he taught at the Supreme National Security University in Tehran. These academic and teaching roles accompanied a career that moved from battlefield service into command, staff work and the training of senior personnel.

Career

Salami commanded the IRGC Command and Staff College from 1992 to 1997. From 1997 to 2005, he served as deputy commander of operations at IRGC general staff, a post that placed him in the organization’s central command structure. He became commander of the IRGC air force in 2005 and deputy commander of the IRGC in 2009. Those successive appointments gave him experience in operations, missile-related forces and leadership before he took charge of the organization as a whole.

On April 21, 2019, Ali Khamenei appointed Salami the IRGC’s eighth commander. Salami succeeded Mohammad-Ali Jafari, who had held the post since September 2007. Khamenei promoted Salami to lieutenant general upon his appointment. The change followed Salami’s decade as deputy commander and brought a figure already known for threats against Israel to the head of the force. As commander, he rejected concessions to Western demands concerning the Iranian regime’s policies, including pressure over missile development. The IRGC’s responsibilities extended beyond conventional military command: its Quds Force supported armed partners abroad, while its missile forces were central to the regime’s regional strategy.

Salami also made appointments within that structure. After Esmail Qaani became commander of the Quds Force, Salami appointed Seyyed Mohammad Hossein Zadeh Hejazi its deputy commander. His work with the force linked the IRGC’s senior leadership to operations and relationships beyond Iran’s borders.

Ideology and statements

Salami repeatedly called for Israel’s destruction. On September 30, 2019, he told IRGC commanders that erasing Israel from the map was an achievable goal. In an October 2 speech, he warned that Israel would be destroyed if a new war began. His statements presented the survival of the Jewish state as a military objective for the Iranian regime, rather than limiting his remarks to criticism of a particular Israeli policy. Earlier threats had likewise described the collapse or annihilation of Israel as an expected outcome.

Salami defended the development of long-range missiles as central to Iran’s deterrence strategy. In February 2019, while still deputy commander, he warned European governments that efforts to halt Iranian missile development would prompt a further increase in missile range. He said Iran faced no technical barrier to extending that range. His missile statements connected a claimed defensive rationale with threats of greater reach against the regime’s adversaries. As IRGC commander, he continued to resist Western demands for restrictions on the program.

His public remarks also addressed unrest within Iran. After an Islamic State attack in Shiraz in October 2022, Salami vowed retaliation against the organization. At the October 29 funeral for the victims, he warned protesters to stay off the streets amid demonstrations that had spread across Iran following Mahsa Amini’s death in custody. He blamed Iran’s problems on supposed schemes by Israel, the United States and European countries. The funeral speech combined a response to the attack with a warning directed at Iranians protesting the regime.

Role in attacks or conflicts

Salami’s account of Iranian involvement in Syria distinguished direct deployment from support through the Quds Force. In September 2015, he denied that Iranian regime forces had a direct military presence there and said the Syrian army should fight its enemies itself. He nevertheless acknowledged that the IRGC Quds Force provided advice, experience and management expertise to Syrian forces. The denial of a direct combat deployment did not mean the regime had no military role: it supplied guidance and support to its proxies, including through the Quds Force.

Salami’s statements and meetings also tied him to the Iranian regime’s armed network confronting Israel. At a 2022 World Jerusalem Day rally in Gaza City, he praised attackers who had killed Israeli civilians. After Yahya Sinwar was elected to lead Hamas in Gaza, Salami promised continued IRGC help for him and the organization. Hamas is a terrorist organization. More than 70 days after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks, Salami predicted that Israel and the United States would lose the war in Gaza. His prediction reflected confidence expressed by senior Iranian regime officials that Hamas would survive Israel’s campaign.

On May 23, 2024, Salami and Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani met representatives of the regime’s regional network in Tehran during events surrounding Ebrahim Raisi’s funeral. Participants included Hamas representative Ismail Haniyeh, Hezbollah deputy leader Naim Qassem, Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam, Islamic Jihad deputy leader Mohammed al-Hindi and PFLP deputy leader Jamil Mezher. The meeting brought senior IRGC commanders together with leaders of terrorist organizations supported by the Iranian regime. It illustrated Salami’s role in maintaining relationships among the groups that Iran used to exert pressure on Israel across several fronts.

Salami continued to threaten retaliation as direct confrontation between Iran and Israel intensified. On October 31, 2024, he said the Iranian regime’s response to Israel would surpass expectations. His declarations about missile reach, Israel’s destruction and the endurance of Hamas formed a consistent public position throughout his command, even as the circumstances of each conflict changed.

Death or current status

Israel eliminated Salami in Israeli Air Force strikes on Iran during Operation Rising Lion on June 13, 2025. The opening strikes also killed Mohammad Bagheri, chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces; Gholam Ali Rashid, a senior armed forces commander; and Amir Ali Hajizadeh, head of the IRGC aerospace forces. Their deaths removed several figures from the Iranian regime’s military leadership in a single operation. After Salami’s death, Ali Khamenei appointed Mohammad Pakpour commander of the IRGC.

Legacy

Salami’s career spanned the IRGC’s wartime beginnings, its later development of missile forces and its support for armed organizations beyond Iran. His rise from divisional and staff commands to the top IRGC post placed him at the center of the regime’s military strategy from 2019 to 2025. His public record included explicit threats to destroy Israel, opposition to limits on missile development and support for groups fighting Israel. His 2015 remarks on Syria remain a clear example of how the regime described its regional role: denying direct deployment while acknowledging Quds Force assistance. His death during Operation Rising Lion ended his command as Israel struck several of Iran’s most senior military officers.