In the early hours of this morning, Israel launched targeted attacks against Iran, striking more than 100 targets, including the hideouts of senior operatives in the military’s leadership.
Israel attacks Iran’s nuclear sites – follow live
The strikes eliminated several senior military commanders and six top nuclear scientists.
Who were they – and what do we know about them?
Mohammad Hossein Bagheri
Mohammad Hossein Bagheri
Bagheri was chief of staff of the armed forces of the Iranian regime and the highest ranking military officer in Iran.
He was second-highest commander after the country’s supreme leader.
His involvement in the military dated back to the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
According to The Times of Israel, Bagheri was reportedly one of the students who stormed the US embassy in Tehran that year.
Hossein Salami
IRGC Commander-in-Chief Major General Hossein Salami. Pic: WANA/Reuters
Salami was commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Iran’s primary military force.
He had a history of threatening the US and Israel.
Salami previously warned Iran would “open the gates of hell” if attacked by another country.
He joined the Revolutionary Guards during the Iran-Iraq war.
Salami had been sanctioned by the UN Security Council and the United States since the 2000s for his involvement in the country’s nuclear and military programmes.
In a 2016 speech, he said there was “fertile ground” for the “annihilation, the wiping out, and the collapse of the Zionist regime”.
Gholam-Ali Rashid
Gholam-Ali Rashid
Rashid was head of the IRGC’s Khatam al Anbia headquarters (Emergency Command).
He previously served as deputy chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, and fought for Iran during the 1980s war with Iraq.
Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani
Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani, pictured in 2012. Pic: AP
Abbasi was a nuclear scientist and head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation from 2011 to 2013.
A hardliner, Abbasi was a member of parliament from 2020 to 2024.
Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi
Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi. Pic: Tasnim News Agency/Wiki Commons
Tehranchi was also a nuclear scientist – and a theoretical physicist and president of the Islamic Azad University in Tehran.
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The Israeli strikes targeted Iran’s nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories and military commanders to prevent Tehran from developing an atomic weapon.
Four other scientists killed in the strikes were Abdolhamid Manouchehr, Ahmad Reza Zolfaghari, Amirhossein Feghi and Motalibizadeh.
