Abdolreza Shahlaei

Abdolreza Shahlaei is an Iranian military officer who serves as the commander of the Yemen division of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Designation as a terrorist by the US
Shahlaei is classified by the US government as a terrorist for his funding of terror groups and his links to attacks on US troops in Iraq, including a 2007 raid that killed five US soldiers in Karbala. Other alleged attacks led by Shahlaei include a failed assassination attempt on the Saudi ambassador in Washington DC, Adel Al-Jubeir. As such, the US State Department has put a US$15 million bounty on Shahlaei, through the Rewards for Justice Program, for information leading to his whereabouts.

2020 assassination attempt by the US
On the night of 3 January 2020, the US military attempted to assassinate Shahlaei via drone strike in conjunction with the assassination of the head of the Quds Force Qasem Soleimani in the Baghdad International Airport airstrike. The drone strike in Sana'a, where Shahlaei was based, failed to kill him but did lead to the death of lower-ranked IRGC member Mostafa Mohammad Mirzaei. This is the first combat death the Quds Force has acknowledged in Yemen.

On 10 January, the US State Department admitted to the attempted assassination of Shahlaei but did not announce it on the same date as the Soleimani assassination because the Shahlaei assassination was unsuccessful. This led to speculation the 3 January drone strikes were wider decapitation hits aimed at taking out the Quds Force leadership.

Death rumor
An Islamic Republic News Agency report initially called COVID-19 victim Hasan Irlu a repatriated Qods Corps officer and Iranian envoy to Yemen, Shahlaei.