Iran Mourns Death of Revolutionary Guard General Killed in Alleged Israeli Strike

The Iranian government coordinated a public funeral on Thursday for Brig. Gen. Sayyed Razi Mousavi, a high-ranking official in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who was killed in Syria last week in an alleged Israeli airstrike.

Videos of the event that surfaced on social media depict hundreds of Iranian mourners crowded around Mousavi’s casket, praying, crying, and chanting while his body was transported from a square in central Tehran to a shrine in the north of the city where he was buried.

Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami, who leads the Revolutionary Guard, spoke on behalf of Mousavi, describing the deceased general as a martyr whose death would be avenged.

“Our revenge will be tough as always, but a revenge that could compensate for the martyrdom of Sayyed Razi is nothing but the removal of Israel from the face of existence,” Salami said.

In his speech, the Revolutionary Guard’s head refers to Mousavi as a close friend of Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani and pledges to seek vengeance for both men’s deaths. Soleimani led Iran’s Quds Force, the elite military intelligence wing of the Revolutionary Guard, and was killed in Iraq in an American drone strike in January 2022.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has frequently called for Israel’s destruction and considers the Jewish state to be its mortal enemy. However, Salami, in his statement, sought to distance his government from any involvement with Hamas’ October 7 terrorist attack.

“I officially announce that the Al-Aqsa Storm was and is fully Palestinian. Palestine is capable on its own,” the general said.

Rather than engage in open warfare, Iran funds and supports a myriad of strategically aligned regional actors hostile to Israel, namely, Hamas, Lebanese Hizbullah, and Yemen’s Houthi rebels. Hamas and Hizbullah are both widely regarded as Iranian proxy forces, while the alliance between the Houthis and the Islamic Republic is based on shared ideological and geopolitical goals.

While Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza continues, some fear a larger regional war between Israel and Iran’s allies is imminent. Beyond the three entities already named, other Iran-backed terrorist organizations and insurgent groups operating in Iraq and Syria have also launched rockets and missiles into Israel.