Israel kills Iran’s top general, key officials in massive strike

Israeli strikes on Iran have reportedly killed Major General Mohammad Bagheri, the Chief of Staff of Iran’s Armed Forces, delivering a devastating blow to the country's military leadership.

Iranian media confirmed Bagheri’s death on June 13, following a wave of Israeli air raids that targeted key command and defence structures across several Iranian cities, Caliber.Az reports. 

Among those killed was also General Hossein Salami, commander of the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), whose death was later acknowledged by the IRGC in a formal statement. One of Bagheri’s deputies was also said to have died in the attacks.

The strikes, described by observers as the most comprehensive foreign assault on Iran since the war with Iraq in the 1980s, marked a dramatic escalation in Israel’s long-running shadow conflict with Tehran. While Israel has previously carried out targeted assassinations of Iranian military and nuclear figures, often abroad, this operation appeared to be a direct and large-scale strike on Iran’s internal command structure.

Israeli forces reportedly hit more than a dozen sites, including military bases, missile depots and nuclear facilities in Tehran, Isfahan, Arak, Tabriz and Kermanshah. State media reported significant damage at the Natanz nuclear site and on the Tehran–Isfahan highway.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, speaking through a statement read on state television, vowed retaliation. “The Zionist regime has created a dark and painful fate for itself,” he declared, warning of “harsh punishment” to come. He confirmed that several senior commanders and nuclear scientists were among the dead, noting that residential areas had also been struck.

Iranian authorities acknowledged the extent of the damage, with several apartment blocks in Tehran reportedly destroyed. Residential homes within secure military compounds were among the targets. Officials said the country was now preparing for war, a stance Khamenei had long sought to avoid throughout his leadership.

Ali Shamkhani, a former navy commander and a key political figure close to Khamenei, was also confirmed dead after being critically injured in a strike on his penthouse flat in northern Tehran. Shamkhani, who had been leading a secret committee overseeing nuclear negotiations with the United States, was viewed as a central figure in efforts to resume diplomacy.

Other prominent casualties named by state media included General Gholamali Rashid, a senior commander; Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, a prominent physicist; and nuclear scientist Fereydoun Abbasi.

Political analyst Mehdi Rahmati, who is close to the Iranian government, said the scope of the Israeli offensive took many by surprise. “Unfortunately, they did what we did not think they would do,” he said. “Iran will respond seriously and aims to inflict destruction. We may now be entering a cycle of retaliatory attacks that could engulf the region.”

The IRGC pledged a “decisive and harsh” response against Israel and the United States, signalling a potentially volatile new phase in the Middle East confrontation.

By Aghakazim Guliyev