Iran Keeps Losing Its Inner Circle As Another Top Voice Is Silenced. Why It Hits Differently

Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) spokesman Ali Mohammad Naini was killed in an overnight strike, the Israel Defense Forces said Friday. 

Naini, who was the IRGC’s spokesman and head of public relations, was “eliminated,” according to the IDF. Iranian state television also reported his death. 

“Naini served in several propaganda and public relations roles. In his role as the IRGC’s main propagandist for the past 2 years, he disseminated the regime’s terrorist propaganda to its proxies across the Middle East in order to influence and advance terror attacks against Israel,” the IDF said Friday morning. 

????ELIMINATED: Ali Mohammad Naini, the Spokesperson and Head of the Public Relations Array of the IRGC.

Naini served in several propaganda and public relations roles. In his role as the IRGC’s main propagandist for the past 2 years, he disseminated the regime’s terrorist… pic.twitter.com/e29Elb16FS

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) March 20, 2026

Naini’s death comes shortly after he claimed that Iran continued producing ballistic missiles and suggested public support for prolonging the war.

“These people expect the war to continue until the enemy is completely exhausted,” he said.  “This war must end when the shadow of war is lifted from the country.”

He also said that Iran’s missile production remained strong. 

“Our missile industry score is 20 and there is no concern in this regard because we are producing missiles even during war conditions, which is amazing, and there is no particular problem in stockpiling,” he said. 

U.S. officials have disputed such claims. The Pentagon has said recent strikes significantly damaged Iran’s defense industrial base and crippled its missile production capabilities. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said Thursday that Iran is firing roughly 90% fewer missiles than at the start of the war on February 28.

Naini is the latest in a string of high-ranking Iranian officials reportedly killed by Israel this week.

Among them is Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, whom the IDF described as a senior regime figure and close associate of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

“During the most recent wave of protests against the Iranian terror regime, Larijani personally oversaw the massacre that was carried out against Iranian protestors,” the IDF said in a social media post.

Also reported killed were Gholamreza Soleimani, commander of the Basij Resistance Force, a paramilitary unit under Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, and Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmaeil Khatib.