Top Military Officials, Scientists Killed as Israel Strikes Iran

UPDATE Jun 13, 2025 1:16 AM CDT

In the aftermath of Israel's strikes on Iran, Israeli army chief spokesman Effie Defrin said Iran had launched more than 100 drones toward Israel in retaliation and that "all the defense systems are acting to intercept the threats." Israel, Iraq, Iran, and Jordan shut down their airspace to all flights as a precaution, the AP reports. The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that an Israeli strike hit Iran's uranium enrichment facility at Natanz and said it was closely monitoring radiation levels. It later said that Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant, on the Persian Gulf coast, "has not been targeted and that no increase in radiation levels has been observed at the Natanz site."

Jun 13, 2025 12:01 AM CDT

Iranian state television confirmed the head of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard was killed in Israel's strikes Friday morning, the AP reports. Gen. Hossein Salami was the chief of one of the country's most powerful centers, and his death was a tough blow to Iran's embattled leadership, which has had a series of setbacks in the past 20 months of Middle Eastern war and unrest. Salami rose to power six years ago and had a history of threatening the US and Israel. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, the chief of staff of Iran's armed forces, was also killed in the strikes, as well as other military officials and multiple scientists, per Iranian state television.

Israeli leaders said the attack was aimed at preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear bomb as the country enriches uranium a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels. Iran long has said its program is peaceful and US intelligence agencies have assessed Iran was not actively building a weapon. In a video announcing the military operation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the strikes hit Iran's main enrichment site, the Natanz atomic facility, and targeted Iran's leading nuclear scientists. He said that Israel had also targeted Iran's ballistic missile arsenal.

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Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that "severe punishment" would be directed at Israel. In the US, President Trump is scheduled to attend a meeting of his National Security Council on Friday in the White House Situation Room, where he is expected to discuss the conflict with top advisers. It is not clear if he plans to make public remarks on the strikes. His secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said Israel took "unilateral action against Iran" and that Israel advised the US that it believed the strikes were necessary for its self-defense. "We are not involved in strikes against Iran, and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region," Rubio said in a statement released by the White House. (More Iran stories.)