The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has confirmed that its intelligence chief, Majid Khademi, was killed in Tehran on Monday morning—the second official to hold the post to be killed in less than a year.
In a statement published by state media, the IRGC accused Israel and the United States of orchestrating the assassination. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) told the BBC they are “looking into” the reports, while the US has not officially commented on the strike.
The death of Mr Khademi follows the killing of his predecessor, Mohammad Kazemi, during the 12-day Iran-Israel war in June 2025. This latest blow to Iran’s security apparatus comes amid a devastating wave of strikes across the capital, including a hit on one of the country’s most prestigious academic institutions.
‘Knowledge is not in concrete’
Hours after the news of Khademi’s death, Iran’s First Vice-President, Dr. Mohammad Reza Aref, visited the Sharif University of Technology, which was struck in a separate aerial bombardment this morning.
The strike caused significant damage to the university’s technology centre and mosque, resulting in a widespread gas outage across parts of Tehran. Dr Aref described the attack as a “symbol of Trump’s madness and ignorance,” referring to the US President’s expanded military campaign in the region.
“The US fails to understand that Iran’s knowledge is not embedded in concrete to be destroyed by bombs,” Dr Aref said. “The true fortress is the will of our professors and elites.”
Analysis: A ‘Staged’ War of Intelligence
Before his death, Majid Khademi had been a central figure in the IRGC’s internal crackdowns. Following the mass anti-government protests in January 2026—which human rights groups say resulted in 7,000 deaths—Khademi accused the Trump administration of a “staged murder” strategy.
He claimed that over 10 foreign intelligence agencies, including Israel’s elite Unit 8200, had infiltrated the protests to justify a foreign military intervention. His assassination today removes the man responsible for counter-espionage at a time when Iran’s domestic security appears increasingly compromised.
A Pattern of Academic Targets
The strike on Sharif University is not an isolated incident. Since the outbreak of the war, several major educational hubs have been hit, including:
- Tehran University of Science and Technology
- Shahid Beheshti University
For the Pentagon, these sites are often viewed as dual-use facilities linked to Iran’s nuclear or missile programmes. For Tehran, they are symbols of national pride and sovereignty. As the conflict intensifies, the targeting of both the “intelligence brain” of the IRGC and the “academic brain” of the nation suggests a strategy aimed at total institutional collapse.
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