Iran army chief Ali Shademani assassinated in secret mountain compound near Tehran
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Diverging Reports Breakdown
Report: Israel Kills Dozens of Iranian Military Leaders by Bombing Hideout
Israel killed “dozens’ of Iran’s remaining military leaders, including wartime Chief of Staff Maj.-Gen. Ali Shademani, on Monday by bombing the mountain hideout to which they had retreated. Fox News reported the new revelations first on Wednesday, and The Jerusalem Post independently verified the information from senior defense sources. Israel has continued a relentless campaign of attacks against Iranian military targets and governing institutions. Iran has few air defenses left, and its is losing missile launchers to Israeli attacks by the hour.
The Post said:
Shademani was assassinated at a secret compound in the mountains outside of Tehran along with dozens of other senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officers who had fled from their main headquarters in Tehran, believing they would be safe.
Instead, the IAF [Israeli Air Force] waited for them to move to the “secret” location and then killed them all at the same time. … Fox News reported the new revelations first on Wednesday, and The Jerusalem Post independently verified the information from senior defense sources.
Israel has continued a relentless campaign of attacks against Iranian military targets and governing institutions. The Iranian regime has continued to threaten the “Zionists,” but has been unable to deliver on those threats. Iran has few air defenses left, and its is losing missile launchers to Israeli attacks by the hour.
President Donald Trump has demanded the “unconditional surrender” of the Iranian regime. In remarks to reporters at the White House on Wednesday, he suggested that the U.S. might dismantle Iran’s nuclear program after the regime surrendered, and not necessarily as part of the ongoing war effort.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of Trump 2.0: The Most Dramatic ‘First 100 Days’ in Presidential History, available for Amazon Kindle. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
Photo: file
Israel says it has killed another Iranian general as Trump tamps down ceasefire talk
U.S. President Donald Trump says he wants “a real end” to the Israel-Iran conflict. U.N. nuclear watchdog says Israeli strikes on Iran’s main uranium-enrichment facility damaged main underground section, not just an above-ground facility. Israeli military spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin announced a new wave of strikes on Tuesday evening. Residents of Tehran fled their homes in droves as explosions and anti-aircraft fire boomed throughout Tehran, shaking buildings. Israel says its sweeping assault is necessary to prevent its adversary from getting any closer to building an atomic weapon. The strikes have killed at least 224 people in Iran. Iran has retaliated by launching some 400 missiles and hundreds of drones at Israel, so far, 24 people have been killed in Israel. The Israeli military warned the Iranian population to stay close to shelters as Iran’s military launched a new salvos of missiles, including in the heart of the desert town of Dimona, the Israeli military said. Israel claims to have killed a top Iranian general as it traded more strikes with its longtime foe.
Israel claimed Tuesday to have killed a top Iranian general as it traded more strikes with its longtime foe, and U.S. President Donald Trump warned residents of Tehran to evacuate while demanding that Iran surrender without conditions.
Trump left the Group of Seven summit in Alberta a day early to deal with the Israel-Iran conflict, telling reporters on Air Force One during the flight back to Washington: “I’m not looking at a ceasefire. We’re looking at better than a ceasefire.”
When asked to explain, he said the U.S. wanted to see “a real end” to the conflict that could involve Iran “giving up entirely.”
“I’m not too much in the mood to negotiate,” he said.
Later on social media, he warned Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that the U.S. knows where he is hiding and called for Iran’s “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER.”
LISTEN l Longtime Mideast correspondent with the Economist on what’s next: Front Burner 33:27 Israel-Iran strikes: What comes next?
It was not clear whether he was suggesting that the country give up its nuclear ambitions.
Trump posted that there were no plans to kill Khamenei “at least not for now.” Despite warning that U.S. “patience is wearing thin,” he indicated that diplomatic talks remained an option and said he could send U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance and special envoy Steve Witkoff to meet with the Iranians.
Iran offered no immediate response to the U.S. president’s posts, but the country’s military leaders vowed that Israel would soon see more attacks.
“The operations carried out so far have been solely for the purpose of warning and deterrence,” Gen. Abdul Rahim Mousavi, the commander in chief of Iran’s army, said in a video. “The punishment operation will be carried out soon.”
Smoke rises from an oil storage facility in Tehran on Monday after it appeared to have been hit by an Israeli strike on Saturday. (Vahid Salemi/The Associated Press)
Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke about the evolving situation over the phone on Tuesday, according to a White House official who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Uncertainty roiled the region on the fifth day of Israel’s air campaign aimed at Iran’s military and nuclear program. Residents of Tehran fled their homes in droves.
The United Nations nuclear watchdog for the first time said Israeli strikes on Iran’s main uranium-enrichment facility at Natanz had also damaged its main underground section, not just an above-ground facility, as previously acknowledged.
Israel says its sweeping assault is necessary to prevent its adversary from getting any closer to building an atomic weapon. The strikes have killed at least 224 people in Iran. Iran has retaliated by launching some 400 missiles and hundreds of drones at Israel. So far, 24 people have been killed in Israel.
No immediate comment on general’s killing
Iran did not immediately comment on the reported killing of Gen. Ali Shadmani, whom Israel described as the most senior military commander in Iran.
Shadmani was little known in the country before being appointed last week to a chief-of-staff-like role as head of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters. That appointment followed the killing of his predecessor, Gen. Gholam Ali Rashid, in an Israeli strike.
Israeli military spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin announced a new wave of strikes on Tuesday evening as explosions and anti-aircraft fire boomed throughout Tehran, shaking buildings. The Israeli military said its warplanes had targeted 12 missile launch sites and storage facilities.
WATCH l Trump comments en route to Washington from Kananaskis: Trump says U.S. wants a ‘real end’ to Israel-Iran conflict — not just a ceasefire Duration 0:51 U.S. President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters on Air Force One as he returned ahead of schedule from the G7 summit in Canada, reiterated his position that Iran cannot be allowed to have nuclear weapons and took questions about the conflict.
The Israeli military warned the population to stay close to shelters as Iran fired new salvos of missiles, but officials said most were intercepted. Sirens blared in southern Israel, including in the desert town of Dimona, the heart of Israel’s never-acknowledged nuclear arms program.
Iran launched another barrage early Wednesday. Israeli rescue services had no immediate reports of injuries.
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard claimed in a message that the barrage included the use of Fatah missiles, which Tehran describes as hypersonic. Israel has not acknowledged Iran using hypersonic missiles. Hypersonic weapons, which fly at speeds higher than Mach 5, pose crucial challenges to missile defence systems because of their speed and manoeuvrability.
Satellite image shows buildings at Isfahan Nuclear Technology Centre, before and after Israel launched an attack on Iran targeting nuclear facilities, in Isfahan, Iran, on May 17 and on June 16, respectively. (Planet Labs PBC/Reuters)
The U.S. State Department announced that the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem will remain closed through Friday due to “the current security situation and ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran.”
Iran has fired fewer missiles in each of its barrages, with just a handful launched late Tuesday. It has not explained the drop in missiles fired, but the decline comes after Israel targeted many Iranian launchers.
Trump warned on social media that “everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran,” echoing an earlier Israeli military call for some 330,000 residents of a downtown neighbourhood there to evacuate.
Tehran is one of the largest cities in the Middle East, with around 10 million people, roughly equivalent to the entire population of Israel. People have been fleeing since hostilities began.
Asked why he had urged the evacuation of Tehran, Trump said, “I just want people to be safe.”
Downtown Tehran emptied out early Tuesday, with many shops shuttered — even the ancient Grand Bazaar, which has closed only in times of crisis, including during the 2022 anti-government protests and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shops remained shuttered in Tehran’s historic Grand Bazaar on Monday. (Vahid Salemi/The Associated Press)
On the roads out of Tehran to the west, traffic stood bumper to bumper. Many middle- and upper-class Iranians were headed to the Caspian Sea, a popular getaway spot. Long lines snaked from Tehran’s gas stations.
Satellite images analyzed on Wednesday by The Associated Press appear to show no vessels anchored off the headquarters of the U.S. navy’s 5th Fleet in Bahrain, more than 1,000 kilometres south of Tehran. Dispersing ships is a common safety technique employed by navies around the world in times of trouble.
Iran has threatened to target U.S. military installations in the region, though there’s not been any attack so far since the Israeli campaign against Iran began on Friday.
Internet, phone service disruption
Iranian authorities appeared to be curbing the public’s access to the outside world. Phone and internet service was disrupted, with landline phones unable to receive or dial international calls. NetBlocks, an internet monitoring group, reported that it had detected a significant drop in internet traffic from the country.
Iran’s Cyber Security Command acknowledged the internet restrictions and in a statement carried by Iranian state television said it was “implementing numerous measures for different parts of the country.” The move was meant to stop enemies from “continuing to exploit infrastructure to carry out cyber and military operations,” the statement said.
Iran has restricted important communications tools during past nationwide protests and the 1980s Iran-Iraq war.
International websites appeared to be blocked, but local websites were functioning, likely signalling that Iran had turned on the so-called halal net, its locally controlled version of the internet aimed at limiting what the public can see.
Iran’s state TV on Tuesday urged the public to remove the messaging app WhatsApp from their cellphones, alleging without evidence that the app gathered user information to send to Israel.
In a statement, WhatsApp said it was concerned “these false reports will be an excuse for our services to be blocked at a time when people need them the most.”
‘Direct impacts’ on Natanz facility
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Tuesday it now believes Israeli airstrikes on Iran’s Natanz enrichment site had directly affected the facility’s underground centrifuge facility.
Satellite imagery collected after Friday’s attacks showed “additional elements that indicate direct impacts on the underground enrichment halls,” the watchdog said.
WATCH l Explaining Israel’s Operation Rising Lion: Inside Israel’s nighttime attack on Iran’s nuclear program | About That Duration 25:39 Israel and Iran have been exchanging attacks after Israel targeted military officials and nuclear facilities. Andrew Chang explains how Israel’s operation changed the state of play. Then, inside Ukraine’s secret deep strike against Russian bombers.
The IAEA earlier reported that Israeli strikes had destroyed an above-ground enrichment hall at Natanz and knocked out electrical equipment that powered the facility, which is 220 kilometres southeast of Tehran.
However, most of Iran’s enrichment takes place underground to protect from airstrikes.
Israel has struck Natanz repeatedly and claims to have hurt its underground facilities, which experts assess contain 10,000 centrifuges that enrich uranium up to 60 per cent.
Iran maintains that its nuclear program is peaceful, and the U.S. and others have assessed that Tehran has not had an organized effort to pursue a nuclear weapon since 2003. But the IAEA has repeatedly warned that the country has enough enriched uranium to make several nuclear bombs should it choose to do so.
While Netanyahu claimed Monday that Israeli strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites have set the country’s nuclear program back a “very, very long time,” Israel has not been able to reach Iran’s Fordow uranium enrichment facility, which is built deep into a mountainside.
Hitting Fordow would require the U.S. to get involved militarily and deploy B-2 stealth bombers to drop its bunker-busting bomb. The 30,000-pound GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator uses its weight and sheer kinetic force to reach deeply buried targets.
Yonah Jeremy Bob
Yonah is the author of the award-winning book Target Tehran. He is also a well-connected journalist and author. He has been interviewed by CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera, and other media. He also delivers lectures around the world on foreign affairs. He lives in Baltimore with his wife and three children. He works as a freelance journalist and writer in Israel and the US.
Yonah is the author of the award winning book Target Tehran, about the Mossad’s secret war against Iran’s nuclear program and its role in the Abraham Accords, published in hardcover by Simon & Schuster in September 2023, and translated and published in Hebrew by Yediot Books in April 2024, with an English paperback version due in September 2024. The Wall Street Journal listed the book in its Top 5 for Politics for 2023 and it won the Jewish Book Council/Natan Award for 2024.
Yonah is the editor and translator of the intelligence and terrorism thriller A Raid on the Red Sea published by Potomac/Nebraska in March 2021. His first book on aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was published by Gefen in August 2019.
Yonah has been interviewed by CNN, BBC, Skynews, Al Jazeera, Voice of America, Reuters, and a range of other television and radio programs in English and has also been interviewed by a wide variety of print and radio Hebrew media. Yonah also delivers foreign affairs lectures and Zoom lectures throughout the US, Canada, Australia and Israel, including at the International Spy Museum in Washington DC, to World Affairs Councils, and to a wide variety of Jewish groups.
Hailing from Baltimore in the US, Yonah graduated with honors from Columbia University and Boston University Law School. He is married with three children.