Israel's military announced it has killed Iran's defense minister and other top security officials in airstrikes, following the death of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei in U.S.-Israeli strikes.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Tuesday that "hundreds of Israeli Air Force fighter jets struck hundreds of military targets across Iran based on precise IDF intelligence," releasing a list of senior Iranian officials killed in the operation.
According to the list, Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, was among the dead. The IDF described Shamkhani as "a key figure in security decision-making and security adviser to Khamenei."
The military also confirmed the deaths of Mohammad Pakpour, commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and Aziz Nasirzadeh, Iran's defense minister.
Other casualties include Saleh Asadi, intelligence chief of the IRGC's Khatam al-Anbiya military operations headquarters; Mohammad Shirazi, Khamenei's military affairs director; and Hossein Jabal Amelian, chairman of the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND), an entity linked to Iran's nuclear weapons development, along with former SPND chairman Reza Mozaffarinia.
CNN reported that the U.S.-Israeli strikes also targeted other Iranian leaders including President Masoud Pezeshkian, Armed Forces Chief of Staff Abdolrahim Mousavi, and Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Larijani.
The IDF said the operation began as a preemptive strike after identifying gatherings of senior Iranian officials at multiple locations in Tehran. "The Israeli Air Force continues airstrikes across Iran in cooperation with the United States based on precise intelligence," the IDF stated, adding it "will continue operations against all forces that threaten Israel's national security."