Abdul Reza Shahlai

Abdul Reza Shahlai is a senior officer in the IRGC-Quds Force who has been sanctioned by the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom for his role in directing terrorist operations abroad. According to US prosecutors, Shahlai directed Gholam Shakuri in the 2011 plot to assassinate Saudi Ambassador Adel Al-Jubeir in Washington DC, making him the senior IRGC-QF officer behind the operation.

Shahlai is also accused of coordinating a 2007 attack on US military personnel in Karbala, Iraq that killed five American soldiers. The US Department of State offered a $15 million reward through its Rewards for Justice programme for information on Shahlai's operations and networks. He was subsequently deployed to Yemen, where he coordinates IRGC-QF support for Houthi forces.

On the night of the assassination of Qassem Soleimani in January 2020, the United States simultaneously attempted a strike targeting Shahlai in Yemen, but the operation failed to kill him.