During the early morning hours of Thursday, July 9, 2026, 29-year-old Khaled Ghaderi and 47-year-old Mohammad-Vali Raeesi died during a series of alleged U.S. airstrikes at the Iranshahr Airport in southeastern Iran. Khaled was reportedly killed directly in the strike, while Mohammad died of a heart attack nearby.
Several sources, including Ettela’at Online and Mehr News Agency, reported that at around 12:30 a.m., “four strong explosions” were heard in the city, hitting the “flight facility building and the meteorological station of Iranshahr airport.” Khaled, who was working as a security staff member at the airport’s meteorological building, was reportedly killed.
Mohammad, a teacher of 20 years from the village of Nikshahr, died from a heart attack which occurred concurrently with the strikes at the Iranshahr Airport Facilities. An avid football fan who had been “following the World Cup” in recent weeks, Mohammad reportedly came to Iranshahr for heart treatment. According to Nayyereh Khademi, after hearing the first and second explosions, he “wanted to go outside to see where he had been targeted” and collapsed a minute or two after. His wife, Nasrin Sarfarazi, recounted that he looked “pale” and was “trying to keep his eyes open, but he couldn’t.” After 30 to 45 resuscitation attempts, Mohammad died at the hospital, leaving behind his wife, Nasrin, and his three children.
Two videos published by Al Arabiya English on Facebook and Haal Vsh on Telegram respectively, show footage filmed from a moving car showing the airport from a distance, engulfed in thick smoke and flames. Another video reportedly filmed at around 1:30 a.m. and published by Haal Vsh on Telegram shows a number of cars along the exit routes of Iranshahr, with the person recording the video announcing that a number of people are leaving the city due to concerns about continued explosions and attacks.
According to Mehr News Agency, the attack on Iranshahr Airport was subsequently confirmed by the Deputy Governor of Sistan and Baluchestan. Additionally, Tarek Chouiref claimed in an article published by Anadolu Agency that the strikes followed a “new wave of US strikes” tracing back to Wednesday that had reportedly struck “several locations in southern and southeastern Iran.”
Following this incident, U.S. President Donald Trump posted a video of the attack on Iranshahr Airport on his social media platform, Truth Social, showing footage of the airport with fire and smoke rising from a distance. Within the same minute, he retweeted – without comment – a post by another account (@sentdefender) featuring an image of a fiery explosion and the caption: “Local officials have now confirmed that U.S. strikes indeed targeted Iranshahr Airport/Airbase in the Southeastern Iranian city of Iranshahr, which is partially utilized by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force (IRGC-AF).” These can be seen as a strong indication of the U.S. role in the strikes given President Trump's role as the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, however absent his or another official's direct acknowledgement, this incident has been graded as a "likely strike" until further comment is made.
It should also be noted that despite the above allegations that the airport was, in part, used as an IRGC airbase, none of the available sources indicated that either of the victims were associated with IRGC or involved in hostilities.