The 65-year-old was the commander of the country’s most powerful internal security forces for the past six years and a veteran of the Iran-Iraq War, having fought on the front lines. If confirmed, Soleimani and Larijani would be the highest-level killings since Israeli and United States strikes killed former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his top aides on the first day of the war on February 28. He is not related to Qassem Soleimani, the late commander of the Quds Force, the elite clandestine wing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), who was assassinated in a US drone strike in Baghdad in 2020. In November 2019, months after he took command, the Basij was heavily involved in violently suppressing nationwide antigovernment protests. The paramilitary force with an estimated 450,000 personnel has often been deployed to clamp down on protests against the government and has played a major role in suppressing uprisings in recent years, including the 2009 Green Revolution and the 2022-2023 protests in the wake of the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody. In 2021, the EU imposed its sanction on him, noting that the Basij forces under his command used lethal violence against unarmed protesters.