Iranian state media on Wednesday announced the death of a senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander five days after the death of top figure who also helped oversee the Islamic Republic’s suppression of protests.
The death of Gholamhossein Gheybparvar, deputy commander at the Revolutionary Guards’ Imam Ali base was attributed to “illness caused by chemical injuries” from the Iran-Iraq war which ended in 1988.
No such condition had been previously disclosed, and in a visit last month to the northern Iranian city of Qazvin he wore a face mask but appeared otherwise healthy.
Known by the alias Shahram, Gheybparvar held prominent roles across IRGC institutions involved in domestic crackdowns.
Gheybparvar headed the domestic militia the Basij from 2016 to 2019, overseeing paramilitary confrontations with protestors and was appointed deputy chief of the Imam Ali base the same year.
The Imam Ali base commands battalions formed in 2011 under then-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Its units—often clad in black or camouflage—have appeared in nearly every nationwide protest since, engaging directly in beatings and detentions.
Their operations are supported by the Sarallah base, which oversees security over the capital Tehran and which was targeted in Israeli attacks last month.
Ali Taeb, another key security figure whose death was announced last week, served as Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's former representative at the base. His brother Hossein Taeb once led the Revolutionary Guard’s Intelligence Organization.
Taeb’s death, reported on Friday, was announced just hours after a gas explosion at a residential high-rise in western Tehran. State media said Taeb died of natural causes.
Israel’s 12-day military campaign against Iran began on June 13, targeting not only bases and nuclear sites but also top-ranking military and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officials.
Israeli airstrikes and drone attacks killed hundreds of Iranian military personnel and nuclear scientists, as well as hundreds of civilians. In response, Iranian missile salvos killed 27 Israeli civilians.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a July 11 interview that Israel had rolled back Iran’s nuclear program but suggested the confrontation with the Islamic Republic was not yet over.
