Basij, a key paramilitary militia under the IRGC, has a violent history of suppressing protests, enforcing morality laws, and committing human rights abuses, including torture and sexual abuse.
Iran's top security official was constantly moving to different secret locations throughout the last two weeks, sources said, taking precautions to avoid being located by Israel.
Israel's strikes have killed at least 886 people in Lebanon and forced more than 1 million from their homes, according to Lebanese authorities.
Ali Larijani, a key behind-the-scenes figure in Iran, was killed in an IDF strike, leaving a major gap in the regime's leadership amid growing instability.
Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei had held his first foreign policy session since being named supreme leader, and had taken a stance for revenge against the US and Israel that was “very tough and serious.”
Jordan’s carefully balanced neutrality has been expressed through both its diplomatic statements and through its actions, said Ofir Winter, a senior researcher at the INSS, Tel Aviv University.
Iran lost the first round badly. Its nuclear sites are rubble. Its air defenses are gone. The Revolutionary Guards have taken casualties they won't acknowledge for months.
The Iranian-backed militias in Iraq have become increasingly more powerful in the last decade.
Larijani, the son of a Shia jurisprudence scholar, held several senior roles within the Islamic Republic during his career, most recently as the Supreme National Security Council Secretary.
The killing of Ali Larijani, who has been doing most of the work running the country for the wounded supreme leader, was a message to any still surviving Iranian leaders: you are out of time.
Iran's sports minister said last week the Iranian players couldn't participate in the tournament after the US launched airstrikes alongside Israel against Tehran, killing Khamenei.
