Iran reported that on the 13th, Major General Hossein Salami, commander of the Revolutionary Guard, is presumed to have died in an Israeli airstrike.
Iran’s state TV and the state news agency IRNA reported that in addition to Major General Salami, two others, including Iranian Army Deputy Commander General Gholamali Rashid and nuclear researcher Fereydoon Abbasi, also died.
No other details were disclosed.
An official from the Ministry of National Defense of Israel also noted that on the 13th, several senior Iranian commanders and key nuclear scientists were believed to have died in the airstrike.
Established after the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the Revolutionary Guard is one of the key power institutions of Iran’s theocratic regime. They closely guard Iran’s Supreme Leader Khomeini while also controlling Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal. They are assessed to operate more extensively than the regular Iranian military and are considered much more powerful.
The Revolutionary Guard has supported groups such as the Yemeni Houthi rebels attacking Western ships in the Middle East, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, referred to as the ‘axis of resistance.’ In particular, during the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Revolutionary Guard also attacked Israel twice.
According to Reuters, Israel targeted at least six military bases around Tehran in the latest airstrike. They also struck two high-security residential complexes where military commanders live and a military facility near Tehran. Military experts analyzed that it appeared to be a meticulous targeted assassination.
For years, Israel has targeted Iran’s high-ranking military leaders and top nuclear scientists. Some were killed by bombs attached to car doors, and a scientist responsible for nuclear research was assassinated by a robot.