Reports from Iran indicate a string of eliminations among the upper echelons of the Islamic Republic's leadership during the Israeli strikes on Iran's capital, Tehran. According to an announcement in local media, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Commander Hossein Salami has been killed. After conflicting, the state media also confirmed that Iran's military chief, Mohammad Bagheri was also killed. Several nuclear scientists were also eliminated. A new IRGC chief was named shortly afteward.
Bagheri, who had led the Iranian military since 2016, was seen as the architect of the Islamic Republic's ballistic missile program. His family connections also bolstered his status in the regime: his brother was a celebrated figure in the Iran-Iraq War, which helped Bagheri forge ties with Iran's ruling elite.
Though Bagheri held the country's top military post, the regular army under his command often competed with the IRGC, which at times enjoyed greater funding and operates under a separate chain of command reporting directly to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Salami joined the IRGC during the Iran-Iraq War and held a variety of senior positions in the organization over the years. He is remembered for leading the brutal crackdown on the 2022 protests against Iran's religious coercion laws. At the time, Salami claimed the unrest was the result of an American-Israeli conspiracy.
Just yesterday, Salami threatened that any Israeli attack would provoke "a harsher and more painful response than anything the region has ever known."
In addition, Iranian sources report that the commander of the "Khatam al-Anbiya" complex in Tehran, Maj. Gen. Gholam Ali Rashid, was also killed in the strike.
According to these sources, Dr. Fereydoon Abbasi, a former head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, was also killed in the attacks.
