(NewsNation) — Israel launched an attack on Iran on Friday, which resulted in a major blow to Iran’s military chain of command.
The strikes targeted Iran’s nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories and military commanders to prevent Tehran from developing an atomic weapon, reportedly killing at least three top military leaders and six nuclear scientists.
At least 20 senior Iranian commanders, including Aerospace Force Cmdr. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, were also killed in the strikes, two regional sources told Reuters.
Here’s what we know about those killed:
Iranian commanders
- Maj. Gen. Gholamali Rashid was head of the IRGC’s Khatam al Anbia headquarters. He previously served as deputy chief of staff of the Iranian Armed Forces and fought for Iran during the 1980s war with Iraq.
- Gen. Hossein Salami was commander-in-chief of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards Corps, or IRGC. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appointed Salami, who was born in 1960, as head of the IRGC in 2019.
- Gen. Mohammad Bagheri was a former IRGC commander. He was chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces from 2016. Born in 1960, Bagheri joined the Guards during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s.
- Commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh: Hajizadeh was the head of the Revolutionary Guards’ Aerospace Force. Israel has identified him as the central figure responsible for directing aerial attacks against its territory. In 2020, Hajizadeh took responsibility for the downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane, which occurred shortly after Iran launched missile strikes on U.S. targets in Iraq in retaliation for the U.S. drone strike that killed Qassem Soleimani.
Nuclear scientists
- Fereydoun Abbaski-Davani served as head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization from 2011 to 2013. He was also a member of parliament from 2020 to 2024.
- Mohammad Medi Tehranchi was head of Iran’s Islamic Azad University in Tehran.
Four other scientists killed in Friday’s strikes are Abdolhamid Manouchehr, Ahmad Reza Zolfaghari, Amirhossein Feghi and Motalibizadeh.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.