Israel has said it has killed Mohammad Saeed Izadi, head of the Palestinian Division in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) Quds Force. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Saturday (June 21) he was “eliminated” in a “precise” strike on the Iranian city of Qom.
This comes as the conflict between Iran and Israel enters the second week, with both rivals launching strikes at each other. Tensions escalated between the two nations in West Asia after Israel’s surprise attack on Iran ’s nuclear programme and military sites on June 13.
As peace remains elusive in West Asia, who was Saeed Izadi that Israel claims to have killed? We take a look.
Israel says it killed Saeed Izadi
Saeed Izadi led the Palestine Corps of the Quds Force, the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ overseas arm. Israel said he was killed in a strike on an apartment in Qom.
“Izadi was eliminated in a safe house in the heart of Iran, following a prolonged intelligence effort,” the IDF said in a statement on X.
The Israeli military claimed Izadi was responsible for “military coordination between senior commanders in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Iranian regime, and key figures in the Hamas terror organisation.”
It said Izadi oversaw the increase in financial funding from Iran to Hamas for attacks on Israel. “During the war, he was also responsible for directing Hamas forces operating from Lebanon. Since then, he has been committed to rebuilding Hamas’ military wing and ensuring that Hamas remains the controlling authority in Gaza,” the IDF said in the statement.
🔴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.
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) June 21, 2025
Izadi was also the commander of the Palestine Corps of the Quds Force, a key coordinator between the Iranian regime and Hamas, and… pic.twitter.com/ICPna4O4no
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed Izadi’s death, saying he “funded and armed Hamas ahead of the October 7 massacre.”
“A huge achievement for Israeli intelligence and the Israeli Air Force. Justice for the murdered and the hostages. Israel’s long arm will reach all its enemies,” he was quoted as saying by Times of Israel.
The Revolutionary Guards said five of its members were killed in attacks on Khorramaba, but did not mention Izadi, Reuters reported, citing Iranian media.
The Qom governor’s office confirmed an attack on a four-story apartment building, and local media reported two people had been killed.
The IDF also claimed to have killed Behnam Shahriyari, the commander of the Quds Force’s Weapons Transfer Unit in the IRGC, while he was travelling in his car in western Iran.
Who was Saeed Izadi?
Saeed Izadi was a “shadowy figure” in the IRGC’s Quds Force in Lebanon, as per The Dispatch. He reportedly had a hand in several escalatory actions against Israel over the last few years.
In 2015, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) fired rockets from Syria at northern Israel in retaliation for Israeli strikes that killed Hezbollah operatives in Syria. Izadi had plotted the attack on Israel, reported The Dispatch.
Israeli United Nations Ambassador Danny Danon accused Izadi of bolstering ties between Hamas and Hezbollah, a core part of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance”.
Izadi is said to be behind the smuggling of arms from Iran to Hamas via Lebanon, Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (ITIC) said in a report, citing London-based Iran International TV.
Izadi also provided funding and helped conduct training for Palestinian organisations in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, along with enhancing cooperation and coordination between the groups and Lebanon-based Hezbollah. He also drove ties between Hamas and the previous Bashar Al-Assad regime in Syria, according to ITIC.
Izadi was sanctioned by the United States and the UK. “Izadi has materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to, Hamas”, the US Treasury Department said in a press release in 2019.
In April, Israeli Defence Minister Katz claimed, citing an intelligence document, that then-Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar and Muhammad Deif had shot off a letter to Iran’s IRGC Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani in June 2021, seeking financial support for the Palestinian militant group’s plans to attack Israel, which were carried out on October 7, 2023.
“In the document, they (the Hamas leaders) ask of the commander of the [Islamic] Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force to transfer $500 million for destroying the State of Israel,” Katz alleged.
Izadi “accepted the request and replied to them that Iran, despite its difficult economic situation and the plight of the Iranian population, will continue to funnel money to Hamas, because the struggle against Israel and the US is the top priority of the Iranian regime,” Katz said at the time, as per Times of Israel.
The IDF claimed Izadi was “one of the architects” of Hamas’ October 7 assault, “and among the few who knew of it prior to its execution”.
“During the war, he was responsible for directing Hamas forces in Lebanon… [and] he made it his mission to rebuild Hamas’s military wing and ensure the group remained the ruling power in Gaza,” the Israeli military’s statement said.
Izadi was “one of the founders and leading figures behind the Iranian regime’s plan to destroy Israel," the IDF claimed, saying the scheme was “aimed to launch a multi-front attack on Israel in two phases.”
“First, a missile and rocket barrage by the regime and its proxies across the Middle East. Second, a mass invasion of Israeli territory by tens of thousands of terrorists from Lebanon, Gaza, Syria, and Judea and Samaria (West Bank).”
With inputs from agencies