Tehran, April 7 -- Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei on Tuesday paid tribute to slain senior Iranian commander Sayyid Majid Khademi, hailing his decades-long contribution to the country's security and intelligence framework, and describing his death as an act of martyrdom.

In a series of statements posted on social media platform X, Khamenei said, "Martyr Major General Sayyid Majid Khademi, who had been self-effacingly struggling on the path of God for decades in the fields of the nation's security, intelligence, and defence, has attained the blessing of martyrdom."

Khademi, who was associated with the intelligence wing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), was regarded as a key figure within Iran's internal security establishment. ...