Developing Story:
Monitoring Desk: The official TV channel of Iran has confirmed that heads of Iran’s armed forces have been killed, including Hossein Salami, commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and Maj Gen Mohammad Bagheri, overall commander of the Iranian army and the IRGC.
Israel struck bases and nuclear sites across Iran multiple times overnight in what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said was a pre-emptive strike.
AP News Agency reported that an Israeli military official said that the Israeli Air Force targeted Iranian nuclear and military sites, without identifying them. The official spoke to journalists on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing operation.
Over 200 Israeli Air Force aircraft were involved in the opening strikes on Iran early this morning, IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin says in a press conference. He says fighter jets dropped over 330 munitions in the strikes. Defrin also confirms that Israel killed several top Iranian officials in the strikes, including Iran’s military commander Mohammad Bagheri, IRGC chief Hossein Salami, and head of the Khatam-al Anbiya Central Headquarters, Gholam Ali Rashid.
The Iranian TV confirmed that at least two nuclear scientists – Fereydoon Abbasi, the former head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, and Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, the president of the Islamic Azad University in Tehran – have also been killed, Iranian state TV says.
US President Trump confirmed he had prior knowledge of the attack but stated that the US was not involved in the attack; however, he maintained that the US will stand with Israel if Iran retaliates.
It is to be noted that Israel has already dismantled and destroyed the so-called Iranian forged Axis of Resistance through several attacks in the recent past. In the aftermath of the destruction of Iraq by the United States, the Quds force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard under the command of Qasem Soleimani built a network of non-state actors. A shared hatred for the USA bound together the axis, comprised initially of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah of Lebanon, later joined by Hamas and Shia militants of Syria and Iraq. It was a flexible group where each constituent part was self-sufficient and autonomous in decision making, connecting them by the string of a shared enemy— the USA. Yaman’s Houthis joined the axis of resistance much later though but now are an integral part of it. Iran, being the mastermind and the binding force, is the center state of the axis of resistance and voluntarily provides aid to other non-state actors like ammunition, tactical support, and safe sanctuaries. Axis of Resistance was fighting on multiple fronts at the same time; they had highly trained media management operatives, along with access to war machinery and combat training. The current psychological, economic, and tactical rout of Israel is an epitome of the Axis of Resistance’s long, unwavering desire to fight and push back the US’s hegemony.
Iran’s strategic partnership with Russia, as well as with China, could not save it from the wrath of Israeli attacks that had been a new norm for a long time.
Saudi Arabia has condemned the attack, calling UNSC to play its role to stop Israeli aggression.
Riyadh calls the attack on Iran a “blatant aggression” and a breach of sovereignty and international law, warning it threatens regional stability. India has supported the Israeli attack, calling it the right of Israel to protect against possible aggression.
