Iran’s top military officer, the leaders of the Revolutionary Guard and its air force, and its former national security chief were killed in an Israeli airstrike, Operation Lion Rise.
Major General Hossein Salami had been the head of the secret corps of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and one of the most powerful men in Iran since 2019. He oversaw the most powerful part of the military and reported to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He was on a US sanctions list.
Major General Mohammad Bagheri was the chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces, which, according to some estimates, has more than half a million active members. The General Staff is the highest Iranian military body that implements state policy and coordinates activities in the armed forces. Bagheri was also under US sanctions.
Ali Shamkhani was a close associate of the Iranian Supreme Leader. He represented Tehran in negotiations to restore diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia.
He was national security adviser from 2013 to 2023, and before that he held several important positions, including those in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Iranian Ministry of Defense. He was considered a rising star in Iranian diplomacy and was well-known in the United States and Europe as such.
Amir Ali Hajizadeh was the commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ Air Force, and his assassination, as reported by CNN, is a major blow to Tehran.
He played a central role in overseeing Iran’s missile program. According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Hajizadeh was meeting in an underground command center with most of the IRGC Air Force leadership to coordinate an attack on Israel when the facility was targeted and destroyed in an Israeli strike.
The IDF also noted that Hajizadeh had directed Iran’s missile assaults on Israel in October and April of the previous year.
His public image in Iran suffered significantly after he admitted responsibility for the 2020 downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane near Tehran, which resulted in 176 fatalities.
