List of top Iranian officials eliminated in US-Israel strike
2026-03-01 - 13:16
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has released the names of senior Iranian officials it claims were eliminated during a coordinated strike by the United States and Israel on key Iranian targets. The operation, described as one of the most ambitious attacks on Iran in decades, reportedly targeted the country’s top military and defence leadership. Below is the full list of officials named by the Israeli military: Aziz Nasirzadeh Minister of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics. Mohammad Shirazi Chief of the Military Bureau of the Supreme Leader. Ali Shamkhani Supreme Leader’s Adviser for Security Affairs and Secretary of the Defence Council. Hossein Jabal Amelian Chairman of SPND. Mohammad Pakpour Chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Reza Mozafari-Nia Former Chairman of SPND. Salah Asadi Head of Intelligence, Khatem Alanbieh Command. Abdolrahim Mousavi Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces. Earlier reports also claimed that Iran’s Supreme Leader was among those killed in the strikes, alongside close family members, though independent confirmation was still emerging at the time of filing this report. The development marks a significant escalation in regional tensions, with global attention now focused on Tehran’s response. Meanwhile, Iran launched strikes across the Gulf on Sunday after vowing to avenge slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, defying a threat from President Donald Trump to strike with unprecedented force. As crowds gathered in Tehran, with some grieving and others celebrating, explosions rang out and the Israeli military announced it was again striking targets in the heart of the capital. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards announced a fresh “large-scale” attack on Sunday, and blasts were heard in Riyadh, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Manama, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, with Israeli rescue services reporting four people killed in the latest missile attack. Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian declared Khamenei’s killing a “declaration of war against Muslims” and warned: “Iran considers it its legitimate duty and right to avenge the perpetrators and masterminds of this historic crime.” Israel described Khamenei’s death as a “first step”, and military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani boasted that the joint operation “eliminated 40 senior commanders, including Khamenei, in one minute in two different locations over a thousand miles from Israel in broad daylight”. In a social media post that adopted Trump’s style and rhetoric, Ali Larijani, the powerful head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, declared: “Today we will hit them with a force that they have never experienced before.” International reactions to conflict have been mixed, with Pope Leo XIV urging both sides to end “the spiral of violence”, while China condemned Khamenei’s killing as a “serious violation of Iran’s sovereignty”. France, on the other hand, expressed satisfaction at the death of “a bloodthirsty dictator who oppressed his people, degraded women, young people and minorities”.