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On Saturday, Israel launched a significant strike on a prominent target in Tehran, marking a carefully coordinated operation that a defense analyst described as a high-cost precision-guided attack. This was part of a larger offensive strategy that included the use of more affordable kamikaze drones deployed by U.S. forces.
Cameron Chell, CEO of the drone manufacturing company Draganfly, explained to Fox News Digital that the operation likely involved sophisticated and expensive equipment aimed at Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s compound. Meanwhile, U.S. forces utilized less costly drones to create a comprehensive assault across land, air, and sea.
The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed the historic deployment of these drones, noting it as a first in military operations.
In a statement shared on social media platform X, CENTCOM highlighted that Task Force Scorpion Strike was for the first time using single-direction attack drones in battle during Operation Epic Fury. The post emphasized that these affordable drones, inspired by Iran’s Shahed models, were now being used to deliver American-made responses.
“Saturday’s operation was a powerful daytime assault that utilized advanced intelligence to target leadership effectively. The attack on the compound may have required an investment running into tens of millions,” Chell commented.
“That would likely have included expensive, precision-strike drones or manned aircraft in highly coordinated attacks to ensure success, not necessarily the lower-cost, one-way version of the suicide drones,” he explained.
“The U.S. has this lower-cost alternative to hit everything at once, but then the very expensive, high-precision assets would likely have gone directly after leadership on Saturday,” Chell added.
A map of Western strikes against Iran (Fox News)
A senior U.S. official confirmed to Fox News that the compound strike was a “wildly bold daytime attack.”
“It caught the senior leadership off guard on a Saturday morning during Ramadan and on Shabbat in the daytime,” the official added.Â
“We hit the senior leaders right out of the gate,” the source told Fox national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin.
Iran’s military, government and intelligence sites were targeted, an official briefed on the operation also told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
A handful of top Iranian leaders were killed, including the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei addresses the public on the 47th anniversary of the Iranian Revolution, according to Iranian state television in Tehran, Iran, Feb. 9, 2026. (Iranian Leader Press Office/Anadolu/Getty Images)
President Donald Trump also announced Saturday that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had been killed in the strike.
“If drones were involved in that top target attack, it would have been the very sophisticated MQ-type or Global Hawk-type drones,” Chell said.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said other attacks across the country were being done “to remove threats.”
As previously reported by Fox News Digital, those targets included Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) command and control centers, Iranian air defense capabilities, missile and drone launch sites and military airfields.
Chell described how those secondary targets would have been hit by the U.S. with the cheaper one-way “kamikaze” drones before adding that the strikes “seemed to be an excellent example of mass overwhelm at a new level.”
U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine monitors U.S. military operations in Iran after an Israeli strike in Tehran alongside several Cabinet members Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026. (@WhiteHouse/X)
Chell suggested Iran’s defenses were likely degraded well before the strike began because of the coordination.
“I think likely the defense systems, communication systems, were overwhelmingly compromised,” he added. “And so I think they just overwhelmed them,” he said.
“I’m sure there would have been days, if not even weeks, of work and preparation to take out those defense communication systems.
“They would have compromised those defense communications in some way through electronic warfare or cyberattack.Â
“The battlefield now is so multidimensional,” Chell emphasized.
“It’s about cyber warfare, misinformation and electronic warfare as well.
“This was seemingly so swift because it was incredibly well-planned and coordinated by the U.S. and Israel on a massive level that’s not been seen before.”
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