Tehran, IRNA – Various locations in Iran, including in the capital, Tehran, have come under attack by the Israeli regime, and a number of top Iranian military commanders have been assassinated in targeted strikes in a major escalation.
Overnight on Friday, Israel began rounds of strikes in and near Tehran, as well as Natanz, Tabriz, Isfahan, Arak, and Shiraz, among other places.
People woke up to the sounds of large explosions in and near Tehran. Images quickly emerged of the capital’s skyline, showing plumes of smoke rising from several locations.
The Times of Israel soon cited Israeli minister for military affairs Israel Katz as saying that the regime was conducting strikes on Iran. Katz simultaneously declared a state of emergency across Israel.
In a major escalation, and in the first round of strikes, the Israeli regime targeted residential buildings in Tehran in the wee hours of the day as people were asleep in their homes. At least one image showed the lifeless body of a child under the rubble in a Tehran neighborhood in the immediate aftermath of the strikes.
The exact number of casualties, however, remains to be determined. So does the scale of damage. All emergency services have been mobilized across the capital and other affected cities.
Top military brass assassinated
The Israeli military also carried out targeted strikes against Iran’s top military brass. Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff of Iran’s Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Baqeri and Chief Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.) Major General Hossein Salami were assassinated in Tehran.
So were Commander of the Aerospace Force of the I.R.G.C. Brigadier General Amirali Hajizadeh and Commander of Khatam al-Anbia Headquarters Major General Gholamali Rashid.
All of them were decorated veterans of the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988).
Unconfirmed reports say Ali Shamkhani, an adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and a former secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, has also been severely wounded in a targeted strike.
A number of top nuclear scientists were also targeted. Mohammad-Mehdi Tehranchi, president of the Islamic Azad University, and Fereydoun Abbasi, former head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, were among them. Tehranchi and Abbasi were reportedly targeted at their homes in the capital.
Ayatollah Khamenei issues a message to the nation
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Khamenei issued a message to the nation shortly after the strikes began.
“To the Great Iranian Nation!” the Leader’s message began, “The Zionist regime carried out with its evil and bloody hand a crime in our dear country and revealed its wicked nature further by hitting residential areas.”
“With this crime, the Zionist regime sealed for itself a bitter and painful destiny and will definitely see that [destiny] brought upon it,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.
Later in the day, he appointed new top military commanders.
U.S. distances itself from the Israeli strikes
The United States had earlier begun an evacuation of its non-essential embassy staff and their families from the region, as U.S. intelligence indicated that Israel was planning to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities.
In a statement later on Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Israel had taken “unilateral” action against Iran and that the United States had not been involved. But Israeli fighter jets are believed to have received refueling from U.S. aircraft in the region.
Several rounds of strikes also targeted place at Iran’s Natanz nuclear plant in Bushehr. A spokesperson for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said the repeated strikes had been meant to infiltrate the hardened structure protecting the site. He said a preliminary assessment had however revealed only limited damage.
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