Iranian state television confirmed the head of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard was killed in Israel's strikes Friday morning. Gen Hossein Salami was the chief of one of the country's most powerful centres, and his death was a tough blow to Iran's embattled leadership, which has had a series of setbacks in the past 20 months of Middle Eastern war and unrest. Salami rose to power six years ago and had a history of threatening the U.S. and Israel. Here's a closer look.

Powerful arsenal of missiles

Iran's Revolutionary Guard was created after its 1979 Islamic Revolution. Since it was established, it's evolved from a paramilitary, domestic security force to a transnational force that has come to the aid of Tehran's allies in the Mideast, from Syria and Lebanon to Iraq.
It operates in parallel to the country's existing armed forces and controls Iran's arsenal of ballistic missiles, which it has used to attack Israel twice during the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
Salami, 65, was appointed as head of the guard in 2019 by the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The appointment followed US President Donald Trump's decision during his first term to withdraw the US from the international nuclear deal with Iran and restore crippling sanctions. It also followed Trump's designation of the Guard as a terrorist organization.
Salami joined the guard at the outbreak of the bloody 1980s Iran-Iraq war. He later rose to head its air forces and was serving as a deputy commander in the guard when he was appointed.

Harsh rhetoric

Like other guard leaders, Salami routinely delivered speeches with harsh rhetoric towards Israel. In a 2016 speech he said there was ¿fertile ground¿ for the ¿annihilation, the wiping out, and the collapse of the Zionist regime.
He also threatened the United States.
After the US killed the powerful head of the guard's Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani, in a drone strike outside Baghdad's airport in 2020, Salami threatened to retaliate against American and Israeli commanders. The Quds, or Jerusalem, Force is an elite wing of the Guard that oversees foreign operations.
Five days later, Iran launched ballistic missiles at two bases in Iraq housing American troops, causing injuries but no fatalities among soldiers there.
After Soleimani was killed, Salami said that both the U.S. and Israel should know that ¿if they threaten our commanders, none of their commanders will find a safe place to live.