Iranian media reported that General Hossein Salami - Commander of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) - was killed in Israeli attacks.
Earlier, in a statement that shocked the entire region, an Israeli defense official said it was highly likely that Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Mohammad Bagheri, along with many senior generals and key nuclear scientists of Tehran, were killed in the opening airstrike of the Lion Campaign on June 13.
"The likelihood of them being eliminated from the vong of war is increasing," the official said, revealing one of the largest strategic and deadly strikes that Israel has ever carried out on Iran.
A source familiar with the situation revealed that many senior Israeli officials were taken to "custodial positions" after the country launched a campaign to attack Tehran's military brains.
In a live broadcast, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu officially confirmed that Tel Aviv has carried out airstrikes targeting Iran's key nuclear and ballistic missile facilities, launching a military campaign he called "Operation Rising Lion".
We have attacked the brains of Irans nuclear weapons program, Netanyahu said. We target Natanz, a key uranium enrichment facility, and the scientists who are studying Iranian bombs. This is an existential threat to the existence of Israel.
Mr. Netanyahu stressed that the campaign will continue for many days to come, until this threat is completely eliminated.
Iran's news agency confirmed that a series of residential areas in the capital Tehran were hit by missiles, causing many casualties. Some of these areas are where underground bases or critical defense infrastructure are located.
A number of buildings in Tehran... have been attacked, the Iranian news agency wrote, raising suspicions that Israel is targeting both military and civilian targets in an attempt to paralyze Irans response capabilities.
Iran has long been quietly building two underground nuclear complexes at Fordo and Natanz - which were once a major center of controversy between Iran and the West. In Natanz alone, the complex located next to the city of Qom, Iran, has deployed more than 14,000 centers, of which about 11,000 are operating to enrich uranium at 5%.
A ground-level testing facility (PFEP) here is enriching uranium to a refining level of 60% - very close to the level of armaments. This is one of the reasons why Tel Aviv considers Natanz a "heart" that needs to be eliminated if it wants to eliminate Iran's nuclear program.
Israel has been blamed for sabotage in Natanz in the past, including an explosion and widespread power outages in 2021. However, these direct airstrikes could usher in an unprecedented period of public and fierce confrontation.
Concluding his speech, Prime Minister Netanyahu emphasized: As we defend ourselves, we are also defending our neighboring Arab countries, which have endured years of chaos caused by Irans hatred-ising campaign.
In the context of the risk of nuclear negotiations between the US and Iran being completely disrupted, this military campaign is pushing the Middle East to the brink of comprehensive escalation.
