Here’s a look at the top Iranians killed in the war

By Vaughn Cockayne and Ben Wolfgang - The Washington Times - Updated: 5:41 p.m. on Thursday, April 2, 2026

U.S. and Israeli strikes have killed nearly 50 senior members of Iran’s leadership and thousands of members of its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps since the start of the war against Tehran more than a month ago.

Exact casualty figures are murky, but the joint U.S.-Israeli operation has succeeded in decapitating Iran’s military and political leadership structure. Defense officials and military insiders believe the strikes have at times created organizational chaos inside the Iranian government.

Still, Iran has maintained its continuity of government. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is still alive. Iran’s Assembly of Experts successfully appointed a new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, just a week after his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in an airstrike.

In a nationally televised address Wednesday night, Mr. Trump touted the success in eliminating top Iranian leaders.

“Their leaders, most of them, terrorist regime, they led, are now dead,” Mr. Trump said. “Their command and control of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is being decimated as we speak.”

Of the current crop of Iranian leaders, Mr. Trump said: “We have all the cards. They have none.”

The highest-profile leaders killed by the U.S.-Israeli campaign are:

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

The supreme leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran for 36 years. He had been the ultimate decision-maker in Tehran for decades.

Maj. Gen. Mohammad Pakpour

Commander of the IRGC and a key figure in Iran’s military leadership structure. He is believed to have driven Iran’s defensive and asymmetric warfare strategies, which Tehran has used across the Persian Gulf since the war began.

Maj. Gen. Abdolrahim Mousavi

Chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces and widely seen as a central figure in the Iranian regime’s deadly response to domestic protests.

Adm. Ali Shamkhani

Secretary of the Iranian Defense Council and former head of the Supreme National Security Council, he was an important figure in both Tehran’s military and political circles.

Ali Larijani

Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council and a pivotal political figure who helped steer the Iranian government immediately after the elder Khamenei’s death.

Hossein Jabal-Amelian

Chair of the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research, Iran’s chief nuclear development organization, and one of the most important individuals in Iran’s decades-long nuclear program.