Maj. Gen. Majid Khademi

Maj. Gen. Majid Khademi, head of IRGC intelligence since 2024 and described by regional reporting as "effectively the No. 2 within the IRGC", was reported killed in the 6 April Israeli strike wave on Asaluyeh, alongside Quds Force Unit 840 commander Asghar Bakeri. Wire-service confirmation on both deaths was still pending at filing time; sourcing is regional reporting only and should be read with that caveat.

Khademi took command of IRGC intelligence in 2024, inheriting an apparatus whose primary domestic function is enforcing the IRGC military council's grip on Iran's civilian government. His organisation runs the internal surveillance regime that has, across six weeks of conflict, kept President Masoud Pezeshkian physically and procedurally away from Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, ensuring that any Ceasefire signal required IRGC council approval rather than civilian initiative. He was one of the most senior IRGC figures killed in a 72-hour period, yet Iran's outbound missile rate fell to its war low rather than spiking in retaliation, a pattern consistent with command disruption rather than deliberate restraint.

Replacing a counterintelligence chief is not a routine succession. The surveillance architecture Khademi ran does not automatically transfer to a deputy; it must be rebuilt around a new commander's authority. That process takes weeks under peacetime conditions. If his death is confirmed, it opens a brief window in which Iran's civilian government may be able to reach Khamenei directly before the military council closes ranks. Whether Pezeshkian can act within that window will be visible within days.