Israel targeted several key Iranian military figures and nuclear scientists in strikes carried out on Friday morning. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Iranian media reported their killings.
“In the enemy’s attacks, several commanders and scientists have been martyred. God willing, their successors and colleagues will carry on with their duties without delay,” The Islamic Republic of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei said.
Here are the top five we know about so far:
Major General Mohammad Bagheri
Bagheri was Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces—the highest-ranking military officer and the point of coordination between the elite Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) and the regular armed forces. A fierce critic of the United States, Bagheri had been warning for years that his forces were ready for any possible military action against the country.
The chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces had also vowed to retaliate against Israel in response to the assassination of a Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in 2024.
Bagheri had recently been overseeing major exercises focusing on electronic warfare and drone operations, emphasizing Iran’s strategic shift to modern warfare capabilities.
Major General Hossein Salami
As Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), Salami was one of the voices most defiant to Israel, once saying it could be defeated with “a single operation.“
Salami had praised Hezbollah’s operations in its war with Israel in 2024, as part of a broader “Axis of Resistance”. Salami leveled a threat to the United States last month, saying Iran would “open the gates of hell” if attacked by Israel or America.
Major General Gholam Ali Rashid
Both Rashid and his son were reported killed, according to the Tasnim News Agency.
Rashid served as the commander of Iran’s Khatam al‑Anbia Central Headquarters (KCHQ), a joint military command under the General Staff that coordinates operations between the IRGC and the regular army.
Dr. Fereydoon Abbasi
Abbasi was the former head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), overseeing Iran’s nuclear energy and enrichment activities during a period of heightened tensions with the West.
A longtime member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Abbasi Davani was named specifically in a United Nations sanctions resolution as “involved in nuclear or ballistic missile activities.”
In 2010, he survived a car bomb assassination attempt in Tehran, which killed another major nuclear scientist. Iranian officials attributed the attack to Israel’s intelligence services, saying it aimed to sabotage Iran’s nuclear progress.
Dr. Mohammad Mahdi Tehranchi
Tehranchi was a theoretical physicist who served as President of the Islamic Azad University, which played a key role by being directly involvement in Iran’s nuclear program and potetially of the development of nuclear weapons, although Iran always denied having ambitions for nuclear weapons.
Other Iranian nuclear scientists have been assassinated in the past. Israel’s strikes reportedly killed six scientists on Friday, according to Reuters and Iranian media.
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