Tehran: In a significant escalation of hostilities, Iran’s newly appointed Army Chief, Ali Shadmani, was reportedly killed in an Israeli airstrike on Tehran overnight. The Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) confirmed the strike, stating that Shadmani was eliminated following precise intelligence gathered on his location in central Tehran.
Shadmani, who was recently appointed after the death of his predecessor Major General Mohammad Bagheri, served as the head of Iran’s armed forces emergency command. His death marks the second time within a span of five days that Israel has successfully targeted and killed Iran’s top war-time commanders.
Shadmani was known to be a close confidant of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and was central to Iran’s military planning and coordination against Israel amid the ongoing conflict. His loss is seen as a major setback for Iran’s war machinery.
On Friday, June 13, Israel launched what it described as “preemptive strikes” against Iran’s capital, in response to Tehran’s alleged non-compliance with international nuclear safeguards, as flagged by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for the first time in two decades. Those strikes resulted in the deaths of several top officials, including Major General Bagheri and the commander of the Revolutionary Guard, Maj Gen Hossein Salami.
Iran responded with retaliatory missile strikes on multiple Israeli cities, including Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Jerusalem, further intensifying the ongoing military conflict between the two regional powers.
