Hossein Salami

Hossein Salami (1960-2025) was an Iranian military officer who served as commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from 2019 until his death in an Israeli airstrike on 13 June 2025 ^{1 2}. He stood out among IRGC commanders for his fiery and aggressive speeches targeting the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia ¹.

Salami was born in 1960 in Golpayegan, Isfahan province, and was accepted to study mechanical engineering at the Iran University of Science and Technology in 1978 ^{1 2}. When the Iran-Iraq War started he joined the IRGC, and after the war he completed his studies, taking a master's degree in defense management and a doctorate in national defense management ¹.

Salami commanded the IRGC University of Command and Staff, headed its joint staff operations department, commanded the IRGC Aerospace Force from 2006 to 2009 and was deputy commander from 2009 until Ali Khamenei appointed him commander-in-chief on 21 April 2019 ^{1 2}. He directly supervised ballistic missile projects including the Shahab-3 and Qadr, and was sanctioned by the UN Security Council, the United States, the European Union and Canada ¹. In January 2020 he publicly apologised for the IRGC's shootdown of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 ¹. He was killed in Tehran at the start of the Twelve-Day War on 13 June 2025, and Ahmad Vahidi was announced as his temporary successor ^{1 2}. Neither article's prose names a faith for Salami himself - only his Wikidata item carries a religion statement - so his faith is recorded as unknown ^{1 2 3}.

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