Since 2008, Zahedi has led the Quds Force, the foreign operations arm of the Revolutionary Guard in Lebanon. He also held the same position between 1998 and 2002 and was active in Lebanon under aliases such as Hassan Mahdavi and Reza Mahdavi.

Zahedi was a senior field commander for the Revolutionary Guard during the Iran-Iraq war. Before heading to Lebanon, he served as the deputy commander of the Revolutionary Guard's operations for three years and led the Ground Forces before being dismissed in July 2008.

He briefly served as the sixth commander of the Revolutionary Guard's missile unit, succeeding the post after the death of Ahmad Kazemi in a military plane crash northwest of Iran. Zahedi then handed over the missile unit's leadership to Hussein Salami, the current general commander of the Revolutionary Guard forces.

Before returning to lead the Revolutionary Guard forces in Lebanon and Syria, he commanded the "Thar Allah" unit, tasked with protecting Tehran during critical times.

Since August 2010, the United States has sanctioned Zahedi as part of a package targeting the Quds Force leadership for their role in sponsoring terrorism and funding Hezbollah.

Zahedi played a key role in expanding the Quds Force's activities in Lebanon, especially in supporting Hezbollah and facilitating arms shipments. He was a crucial link between Hezbollah and the Syrian intelligence agencies, frequently participating in Hezbollah's leadership meetings.

Despite holding numerous positions within the Revolutionary Guard, Zahedi remained out of the public eye, contrasting with other Revolutionary Guard leadership, primarily due to his role in the intelligence-focused Quds Force.

Zahedi is the third Revolutionary Guard leader to be killed since the war in Gaza began, making him the most prominent.

In December of the previous year, Razi Musawi, the Revolutionary Guard's supply officer in Syria, was killed in an Israeli missile strike on the Sayyida Zeinab area. In January, Hojjatollah Amidivar, the Revolutionary Guard's intelligence officer in Syria, was killed in an airstrike on a building in the Mazze district of Damascus, a location housing security, military headquarters, Palestinian leadership, embassies, and international organizations.

After Musawi's death, Israeli intelligence sites identified Zahedi as Israel's prime target. Channel 14 in Israel aired a report highlighting the key overseas leaders of the Quds Force, including Zahedi, Abdul Rida Maskran, Mohammad Said Izadi, the officer responsible for the Palestine file in the Quds Force, and Abdul Rida Shahlai, the Revolutionary Guard's commander in Yemen.