Wide-scale Israeli attack on Iran kills senior officials including IRGC commander, nuclear scientists

Israel launched a wide-scale attack on Iran early on Friday, in an operation named “Rising Lion”, aimed at “eliminating the Iranian nuclear threat”. A state of emergency was declared across Israel, with the home front command suspending all activities. Ben Gurion Airport was evacuated, all flights were cancelled, and the airspace was shut until further notice.

Iranian state media reported that the Israeli airstrike killed Major General Hossein Salami, commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), along with senior nuclear scientists Fereydoon Abbasi and Mohammad Mahdi Tehranchi. Also killed were Gholam Ali Rashid, head of the central headquarters of the Iranian military, and Abdolhamid Minuchehr, head of the Nuclear Engineering Faculty at Beheshti University.

Iran’s head of Atomic Energy Organisation Fereydoon Abbasi Davani (C), answers questions during a press conference during the 56th International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) General Conference at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna on September 17, 2012. [ALEXANDER KLEIN/AFP/GettyImages]

Reuters reported that the likelihood of the entire Iranian General Staff being killed was high.

Explosions were heard across Iran, including the capital Tehran. Iranian news agencies confirmed fatalities and injuries in multiple areas due to the Israeli attacks.

The Israeli army said it struck dozens of Iranian targets, including military headquarters, facilities, and nuclear sites. A statement from the army read: “Under political directives, we launched a pre-emptive, precise, and integrated strike based on quality intelligence, to hit Iran’s nuclear programme and in response to the regime’s continued aggression against the State of Israel.”

Netanyahu: Israeli strikes in Iran target nuclear sites and will continue if necessary