Iran-Israel tensions: Who were the 11 top officials, scientists killed in the onslaught?
Israel attacked Iran with an onslaught of strikes on Friday, in a bid to dissuade the latter from pursuing nuclear enrichment, killing eleven vital military commanders and nuclear scientists.
Conducted in the early hours of Friday, the operation (titled 'Rising Lion') struck nuclear facilities and military installations across the country.
US President Donald Trump, Israel's ally, has even praised the operation, suggesting that Iran's resistance to its proposal for nuclear disarmament had brought about the strikes. However, Washington has also clarified that it had no part to play in the strikes.
Iran has promised a harsh response to the barrage, as a part of which they have already launched a 100 drones on Israel, as it prepares for a “prolonged operation”, as per Israeli military spokesperson, Effie Defrin, referring to Israel's dual conflict with Gaza and Tehran, a CNN article said.
Here are 11 high-profile Iranian victims of the strikes:
Ali Shamkhani
A top advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and former IRGC commander, Shamkhani was one of the most recognisable figures of the Iranian leadership to die from the strikes.
One of the only ethnic Arab-Iranians in such a senior position in a Shi'ite-dominated Iran, Shamkhani has been active across the political spectrum in the Islamic Republic for decades, having played a vital role in the US-Iran nuclear negotiations.
Major General Mohammad Bagheri
Second to only the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Bagheri was the commander-in-chief of the Iranian military, overseeing the operations of the IRGC in relation to various other arms of the Islamic Republic's armed forces. He was the senior-most military official to be killed in the strikes.
Bagheri has notably played a role in Iran's wars, such as its war with Iraq of the 1980s, a “special role” in an Iraqi operation against the Kurdish, and had even been sanctioned by the US in 2019.
He was replaced by Abdolrahim Mousavi, as per a New York Times report.
General Hossein Salami
Salami was the commander-in-chief of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), appointed to the role by the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei himself, in 2019.
The death of the 65-year-old hardliner, known for his opposition to both Israel and the US, makes him one of the senior-most leaders killed in the operation.
He was replaced by Mohammad Pakpour, as per the same NYT report.
Gholam Ali Rashid
He had been the deputy commander-in-chief of the Islamic Republic's armed forces, who had also headed the Khatam al-Anbiya state headquarters, an IRGC-owned engineering firm.
Amir Ali Hajizadeh
The head of the IRGC's Aerospace Force had been identified by Israel as a key figure responsible for aerial strikes on its territory, as per a Reuters report.
Five prominent nuclear scientists
The Israeli offensive, which had a stated aim to dissuade Iran's nuclear enrichment, inevitably ended up killing six nuclear scientists—Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani, Mohammad Mehdi Tehranji, Abdolhamid Minouchehr, Ahmadreza Zolfaghari, Motalibzadeh, and Amirhossein Feqhi, as per another Reuters report.
Out of these victims, Abbasi-Davani, a hardliner nuclear scientist, served as the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation from 2011-13, whereas Tehranji headed Iran's Islamic Azad University.
Middle East