Dozens of top leaders within the Iranian regime and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were killed in Operation Epic Fury on Saturday, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said Saturday it targeted locations in Tehran "in which senior officials of the Iranian defense establishment had gathered." More than 40 senior Iranian officials were killed, according to a senior Israeli official who spoke to Fox News.
Among those reported killed was Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and a personal advisor to the Ayatollah. Also killed was Mohammad Pakpour, who served as a commander in the IRGC. Saleh Asadi, who led the Intelligence Directorate of the Khatam al-Anbiya emergency command, was also reported dead, along with Iran’s Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh. Mohammad Shirazi, who has been the head of the Military Bureau for Khamenei since 1989, was killed as well.
Reports have also indicated that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former Iranian president, had been killed in the strikes. Israel reported his death, but Iranian state media denied such reports, as they have continued to deny various US-Israeli reports amid the strikes. Ahmadinejad served as Iran’s sixth president from 2005 to 2013, during which the United Nations Security Council implemented multiple sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program. Ahmadinejad previously said that Israel “must be wiped off the map.”
The most notable reported casualty was Khamenei, whose death Trump confirmed following the strikes.
"Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. "This is not only Justice for the people of Iran, but for all Great Americans, and those people from many Countries throughout the World, that have been killed or mutilated by Khamenei and his gang of bloodthirsty THUGS.”
