Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter described Iran’s Basij force as the “modern Iranian equivalent of a gestapo” in a video message from the Israeli Embassy in Washington posted to X early on Wednesday Israel time.
“These are people who are trained to beat down the citizens of Iran and deprive them of their freedom,” the envoy said after updating viewers on Israel’s Monday night eliminations including Ali Larijani, “the head of the national security council, the head of the Basij, and the deputy head of the Basij, along with hundreds of officers and commanders in the Basij.”
Leiter continued: “As we hit their command centers, as they try to relocate from their command centers to football stadiums to schools, they’re hit again, and this will prevent them from continuing to suppress the people of Iran and prevent them from allowing a situation where they continue to reconstitute all of their programs to fire missiles and drones onto their neighbors.”
Day 18 of #RoaringLion - do you know what the Basij is, and why we took out its leaders?
— Ambassador Yechiel (Michael) Leiter (@yechielleiter) March 18, 2026
We stay the course, and will continue to do what is right 🇮🇱🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/kYb4FjtrJ6
