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The Israeli military announced on Saturday that it had successfully eliminated numerous key figures within Iran’s leadership through extensive, well-coordinated attacks across the country. Among those confirmed dead was Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), these operations specifically targeted several strategic sites in Tehran, where prominent officials from Iran’s defense sector had convened.
A high-ranking Israeli security source revealed to Fox News that more than 40 senior Iranian officials tied to security and the regime were neutralized in the offensive.
This operation stands as one of the most significant “decapitation strikes” in modern military history, the source noted. Israeli intelligence played a crucial role by penetrating Iran’s security hierarchy, paving the way for these decisive strikes.
The Israeli military, with coordination from the U.S., reported the successful elimination of multiple Iranian leadership figures, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during these strategic attacks. (Iranian Leader Press Office/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Among those killed, according to the IDF, were Ali Shamkhani, secretary of the Iranian Security Council who was also a personal advisor to the Iranian Supreme Leader.
Mohammad Pakpour, who was also killed, had been commander of the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps since Operation ‘Rising Lion’ and was one of the leaders of the “destruction of Israel” plan, the IDF said.
Saleh Asadi, who headed up the Intelligence Directorate of the Khatam al-Anbiya emergency command, Mohammad Shirazi, head of the Military Bureau of the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei since 1989, Iran’s Defense Minister, Aziz Nasirzadeh, Hossein Jabal Amelian, who chaired an organization that advanced projects related to nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons, and Reza Mozaffari-Nia, who previously chaired the same organization, were also killed, according to the IDF.
Iran’s defense minister, Aziz Nasirzadeh, was killed in Saturday’s strikes. (IDF)
President Donald Trump also confirmed Saturday that Khamenei was killed in the strikes.Â
“Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. “This is not only Justice for the people of Iran, but for all Great Americans, and those people from many Countries throughout the World, that have been killed or mutilated by Khamenei and his gang of bloodthirsty THUGS.”
The leaders had all been meeting at a compound in Tehran on Saturday morning.
Mohammad Pakpour, commander of the IRGC, was killed in Saturday’s strikes. (IDF)
The strikes were moved up due to the “target of opportunity,” multiple sources told Fox News, which is why the strikes happened in the daytime in Iran, keeping the element of surprise. “There was a deliberate decision to accelerate the timeline,” one source said.
Ali Shamkhani, who was an advisor to the supreme leader. (IDF)
“This was a massive, wildly bold daytime attack,” a senior US defense official told Fox News.”It caught the senior leadership off guard, a Saturday morning during Ramadan and on Shabbat in the daytime.”
“We hit the senior leaders right out of the gate,” the source added.
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