Ali Shadmani

Ali Shadmani (Persian: علی شادمانی‎; died 17 June 2025) was an Iranian military officer in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).^[1][2]

Shadmani served as the Commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters for a few days in June 2025, before he was killed in an Israeli airstrike during the Iran–Israel war which targeted senior members of Iran's military leadership, its nuclear facilities, and its nuclear scientists. Shadmani replaced Major General Gholam Ali Rashid following his death on 13 June 2025, also from an Israeli airstrike.^[3]

Born in Hamadan,^[4] Shadmani was a veteran of the Iran-Iraq War.^[5] He held several senior positions within the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). He served as the Deputy Coordinator of the Khatam-al Anbiya Central Headquarters, where he oversaw operational planning and joint-force integration. The Khatam al-Anbiya Central HQ is tasked with managing Iran's defense posture and coordinating between the branches of the regular army (the Islamic Republic of Iran Army; Artesh) and the IRGC during national emergencies and wartime scenarios.^[3][6]

From 2012 to 2016, he was the Deputy of Operations of the General Staff of the Armed Forces. Following the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in July 2024, Shadmani vowed that Iran would deliver "severe revenge" against Israel. He accused the "Zionist criminal regime" of crossing red lines and predicted a decisive retaliation.^[7] He had also been deputy commander of the Emergency Command and head of the Operations Department of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Iran.^[8]

In January 2025, he derided what he characterized as deceptive propaganda of Iran's enemies describing Iran's military as feeble, saying: "Our adversaries, particularly the Americans and Zionists, seek to fabricate narratives to mask their own shortcomings; they strive to depict Iran as weak, which is far from reality. Our armed forces are in peak readiness,"^[9]

On 13 June 2025, following Israeli airstrikes that killed multiple top Iranian military commanders, including Major General Gholam Ali Rashid, who had led the headquarters since 2016, supreme leader Ali Khamenei appointed Shadmani as the new commander of the Khatam-al Anbiya Central Headquarters. This transition occurred amid an escalating military conflict between Iran and Israel.^[10] Shadmani stated that Iran's armed forces would continue their operations on a significantly broader and more destructive scale, until what he described as the "criminal and aggressor Zionist enemy" fully repents and regrets its actions.^[11][12]

In October 2024, Shadmani was sanctioned by the European Union, while he was serving as Deputy Coordinator of Iran's IRGC Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters (KCHQ), following Iran's transfer of missiles and drones to Russia. Shadmani faced asset freezes, a travel ban, and a prohibition on the provision of any financial or economic resources from European Union entities.^[13][14]

On 17 June 2025, the Israel Defense Forces reported that Shadmani had been killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting a mountain command facility in central Tehran. The strike occurred just four days after Shadmani had been appointed to replace Gholam Ali Rashid, who himself had also been killed in an Israeli airstrike, on 13 June 2025.^{[15][16][17][18]} His funeral held on 28 June was set to take place along with those of all the top commanders killed during the Iran–Israel war.^[19]