{"id":4396,"date":"2025-06-13T11:59:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T11:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/israel-strikes-iran-killing-two-senior-military-leaders-and-targeting-nuclear-sites\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T05:19:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T05:19:34","slug":"israel-strikes-iran-killing-two-senior-military-leaders-and-targeting-nuclear-sites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/israel-strikes-iran-killing-two-senior-military-leaders-and-targeting-nuclear-sites\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel strikes Iran killing two senior military leaders and targeting nuclear sites"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Sean Rayment<\/em><\/p>\n

Israel has launched a large-scale attack against Iran, assassinating the head of the Islamic regime\u2019s armed forces in what it described as a \u201cpre-emptive strike\u201d on Tehran\u2019s nuclear programme.<\/p>\n

General Mohammad Bagheri, Iran\u2019s chief of the military staff, was killed along with several top commanders and nuclear scientists as Israel launched waves of attacks, including a strike on Natanz, Tehran\u2019s uranium enrichment facility.<\/p>\n

Israel stated that more than 200 combat jets were deployed in the operation, and 100 targets were struck.<\/p>\n

The attacks came amid growing concerns in Israel that Iran was just weeks away from developing weapons-grade uranium.<\/p>\n

According to sources, Israel\u2019s Mossad intelligence agency spent years preparing for the strikes against Iran\u2019s missile and nuclear sites. The operation involved the construction of a drone base close to Tehran. The drones were activated overnight, striking surface-to-surface missile launchers aimed at Israel, an official told\u00a0The Times of Israel<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Precision weapons smuggled inside Iran were used to disable the country\u2019s air defences, enabling the overnight strikes, the source added.<\/p>\n

In response, Iran launched more than 100 drones, according to Israel\u2019s military.<\/p>\n

Israel is now bracing for a further retaliatory attack, which Tehran said would be \u201charsh and decisive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military campaign would continue for \u201cas many days as it takes,\u201d raising fears of all-out war.<\/p>\n

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Bagheri was the Islamic Republic\u2019s highest-ranking military officer. The strikes also reportedly killed Hossein Salami, the leader of Iran\u2019s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.<\/p>\n

Israel reiterated that 200 jets were deployed and 100 targets were struck.<\/p>\n

Former US President Donald Trump admitted that he knew in advance about Israel\u2019s plans to strike Iran, stressing that Tehran \u201ccannot have a nuclear bomb.\u201d<\/p>\n

The US confirmed on Thursday night that it was not involved in the attack, which appears to have killed some Iranian officials in their homes.<\/p>\n

Speaking to\u00a0Fox News<\/em>\u00a0on Friday, Trump said he had been informed about Operation \u201cRising Lion\u201d \u2014 which he claimed was carried out with Washington\u2019s help \u2014 before it happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cIran cannot have a nuclear bomb, and we are hoping to get back to the negotiating table. We\u2019ll see \u2014 there are several people in leadership in Iran that will not be coming back,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Trump also emphasised that the US is ready to defend its forces in the region and support Israel if Iran retaliates.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said the decision to strike nuclear and military targets in Iran came \u201cat the last possible minute, after all other avenues had been exhausted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking to his German and Italian counterparts on Friday, Saar stated: \u201cThe whole world saw and understood that the Iranians were not ready to stop, and we had to stop them. The latest IAEA report illustrated the serious Iranian violations. We know that challenging days lie ahead, but we have no other choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said it was \u201ccrucial\u201d for Israel\u2019s allies to work toward de-escalation.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think it is now crucial for many allies, including the United States, to work, as we speak, to de-escalate. I know they are doing that, and I think that is now the first order of the day,\u201d Rutte told reporters at a press conference in Stockholm, noting that Israel\u2019s action had been \u201cunilateral.\u201d<\/p>\n

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, had informed him of the attack on Friday morning.<\/p>\n

He acknowledged Israel\u2019s right to defend itself and stated that Iran should not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons, but he also urged both sides to avoid escalation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Federal Government has repeatedly expressed concern about Iran\u2019s advanced nuclear weapons programme for many years,\u201d Merz said. \u201cThis programme violates the provisions of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and poses a serious threat to the entire region, especially to the State of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that Germany would strengthen protections for Jews and Israeli citizens within its borders.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, a senior Russian politician expressed strong support for Iran and warned that Israel\u2019s strikes could trigger a full-scale regional war.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is without doubt,\u201d said Konstantin Kosachev, vice-speaker of the Federation Council, Russia\u2019s upper house of parliament. \u201cWe can and must hope for another demonstration of restraint from Iran. One must always hope for the best, but naturally, there are limits to [Iran\u2019s] patience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kosachev said that halting further escalation was only possible \u201cin the case of a monolithic unity and consensus within the international community in rejecting what Israel is doing and affirming that Iran has a right to a nuclear programme for civilian purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cAlas, there is no \u2014 and will be no \u2014 such consolidated unity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for President Vladimir Putin, told reporters: \u201cRussia is worried and condemns the sharp escalation in tension.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Russia offered to remove highly enriched uranium from Iran and convert it into civilian reactor fuel, as a potential way to narrow differences between Washington and Tehran.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Sean Rayment Israel has launched a large-scale attack against Iran, assassinating the head of the Islamic regime\u2019s armed forces in what it described as a \u201cpre-emptive strike\u201d on Tehran\u2019s nuclear programme. General Mohammad Bagheri, Iran\u2019s chief of the military staff, was killed along with several top commanders and nuclear scientists as Israel launched waves<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4397,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4396","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4396"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4399,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4396\/revisions\/4399"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawahsolutions.com\/national\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}