The Israel Defense Forces announced on Saturday that it had killed more than 20 Iranian commanders, including the heads of military intelligence and missile forces, in the opening phase of “Operation Rising Lion.”
This announcement adds to Friday’s IDF confirmation that several top Iranian commanders—including the heads of the armed forces and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps—were killed in Israeli strikes at the start of the operation.
The strikes, carried out by Israeli Air Force fighter jets and guided by precise intelligence from the IDF Intelligence Directorate, targeted key figures in the Iranian regime’s security and military apparatus, delivering what Israeli officials describe as an unprecedented blow to Tehran’s operational capabilities.
Decapitating Iran’s military leadership
Among those killed in the initial strikes was Brig. Gen. Gholam-Reza Merhabi, head of the Intelligence Directorate in the Iranian Armed Forces General Staff.
Merhabi, regarded as Iran’s most senior intelligence officer, was responsible for intelligence assessments, operational planning and combat preparations against Israel over the past year. He was also a close associate of Armed Forces Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Mohammad Hossein Bagheri, who was also killed in the opening wave.
The IDF said that Mohammad Bagheri, commander of the IRGC’s surface-to-surface missile array (not to be confused with the Armed Forces chief of staff), was killed alongside Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the IRGC’s Aerospace Force commander, and several other senior officials in an underground headquarters in Tehran, where they were reportedly meeting to prepare attacks against Israel.
Blow to Iran’s offensive capabilities
The IDF further reported that IRGC commander Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami and the head of Tehran’s Emergency Command, Maj. Gen. Gholamali Rashid, were also killed in a series of strikes across Iran conducted by more than 200 Israeli fighter jets.
The operation also killed two additional IRGC Air Force officials: Taher Pur, head of the UAV Force, and Brig. Gen. Daoud Shihyan, commander of Aerial Operations, who were reportedly meeting in an underground command center to prepare attacks against Israel.
The IDF described these slain commanders as central architects of Iran’s missile, drone and military strategy, directly responsible for orchestrating assaults on Israel and other regional targets.
Following the strikes, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei swiftly appointed Maj. Gen. Abdolrahim Mousavi as the head of the armed forces and Brig. Gen. Mohammad Pakpour as the IRGC chief, seeking to maintain continuity in Iran’s military leadership.
Targeting Iran’s nuclear program
On Friday, the IAF killed nine Iranian scientists who had significantly advanced Tehran’s nuclear weapons program, the military said on Saturday.
According to the IDF, these scientists served as critical “knowledge centers” within the nuclear project, with decades of experience in atomic weapons development.
The slain scientists were named as Fereydoun Abbasi, Mohammad Mahdi Tehranshi, Akbar Motalebi Zadeh, Saeed Barji, Amir Hassan Fakhahi, Abd al-Hamid Minoushehr, Mansour Asgari, Ahmad Reza Zolfaghari Daryani and Ali Bakhouei Katirimi.
“The individuals who were eliminated played a central part in the progress toward nuclear weapons. Their elimination represents a significant blow to the Iranian regime’s ability to acquire weapons of mass destruction,” said the Israeli military.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday, “In the very near future, you will see Israeli Air Force planes over the skies of Tehran—we will strike at every site and every target of the Ayatollahs’ regime.”
IDF Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said in a press briefing on Saturday: “We are striking across Iran as part of ‘Operation Rising Lion.’ These strikes are being carried out to meet the operation’s objective: eliminating the existential Iranian threat to the State of Israel—the nuclear and missile threat.״