Israel's strike on a government compound in central Tehran on Saturday killed Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei along with several top military officials, in what people briefed on the operation described as a product of months of preparation and close U.S.-Israeli intelligence coordination.
As "Hvylya" reports, citing a New York Times investigation, the gathering at the compound included some of the most senior figures in Iran's security apparatus: Mohammad Pakpour, the commander in chief of the IRGC; Aziz Nasirzadeh, the minister of defense; Admiral Ali Shamkhani, the head of the Military Council; and several other high-ranking officials.
On Sunday, Iran's state news agency IRNA confirmed the deaths of Rear Admiral Shamkhani and Major General Pakpour - two of the military leaders Israel said it had killed. At the time of the strike, senior national security officials were in one building at the compound, while Khamenei was in another nearby structure.
The damage extended well beyond the compound. The United States and Israel had also gathered specifics about the locations of key Iranian intelligence officers. In follow-on strikes after the initial attack, locations where intelligence leaders were staying were hit. Iran's top intelligence officer escaped, but the senior ranks of the country's intelligence agencies were "decimated," according to people briefed on the operation.
The remarkably swift elimination of Iran's leadership reflected what officials described as a failure by Tehran to take adequate precautions at a time when both Israel and the U.S. had sent clear signals they were preparing for war. An Israeli defense official wrote in a message that the strike "was carried out simultaneously at several locations in Tehran," achieving tactical surprise despite Iranian preparations.