Top Iranian general dies in same Israeli strike that killed Nasrallah

A prominent general in Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard died in an Israeli air strike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut, Iranian media reported on Saturday.

The killing of General Abbas Nilforushan marks the latest Iranian casualty suffered as the nearly year-long Israel-Gaza war teeters on the edge of becoming a regional conflict. His death places further pressure on Iran to respond, even as Tehran has signalled in recent months that it wants to negotiate with the West over sanctions crushing its economy.

Nilforushan, 58, was killed on Friday in the strike in Lebanon in which Nasrallah died, the state-owned Tehran Times newspaper reported. Ahmad Reza Pour Khaghan, the deputy head of Iran’s judiciary, also confirmed Nilforushan’s death, describing him as a “guest to the people of Lebanon,” the state-run IRNA news agency said.

Khaghan also reportedly said Iran had the right to retaliate under international law.

Nilforushan served as the deputy commander for operations in the Guard, a role overseeing its ground forces. What he was doing in Lebanon on Friday was not immediately clear. The Guard’s expeditionary Quds Force for decades has armed, trained and relied on Hezbollah as part of its strategy to depend on regional militias as a counterbalance to Israel and the United States.

Nilforushan, like other members of the Guard who view Israel as Iran’s main enemy, has long mocked and criticised the country.

“The Zionist regime has many ethnic, cultural, social and military rifts. It is in a vulnerable and doomed [position] more than before,” Nilforushan said in 2022, according to an IRNA report.