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<p data-start="130" data-end="532"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has appointed new top military leaders after a series of Israeli airstrikes killed several high-ranking Iranian officials. The state-run IRNA reported that among those killed in Friday&rsquo;s strikes were Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Mohammad Bagheri, IRGC Commander Hossein Salami, and Gholam-Ali Rashid, who led the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters.</span></p>
<p data-start="534" data-end="933"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">In response, Khamenei named Abdolrahim Mousavi as the new Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, Mohammad Pakpour as the new commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and Ali Shadmani to head the Khatam al-Anbiya Central HQ. Before the reshuffle, Mousavi was the head of the regular army, Pakpour led the IRGC Ground Forces, and Shadmani was the deputy coordinator of Khatam al-Anbiya.</span></p>
<p data-start="935" data-end="1187"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">In addition to the top commanders, six Iranian nuclear scientists &mdash; including Mohammad-Mehdi Tehranchi and Fereydoun Abbasi &mdash; were also reportedly killed in the strikes, along with an unspecified number of civilians, according to semi-official reports.</span></p>
<p data-start="1189" data-end="1313"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Khamenei condemned the attacks and vowed that Israel would face "severe punishment" for what he called a crime against Iran.</span></p>
<p data-start="1315" data-end="1614"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Israel Defense Forces (IDF), in a post on X (formerly Twitter), confirmed the elimination of Iran&rsquo;s top military leadership in the coordinated airstrikes involving over 200 fighter jets. &ldquo;These were ruthless commanders with blood on their hands. The world is safer without them,&rdquo; the IDF stated.</span></p>
<p data-start="1616" data-end="1860"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Loud explosions were reported across Tehran and other cities during the early hours of Friday. The strikes mark a significant escalation in tensions between the two long-time adversaries and raise the possibility of a broader regional conflict.</span></p>
<p data-start="1862" data-end="2215"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">In a televised address, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the operation &mdash; named &ldquo;Operation Rising Lion&rdquo; &mdash; stating that it was aimed at neutralizing the existential threat posed by Iran. Defense Minister Israel Katz labeled it a &ldquo;preemptive strike&rdquo; and declared a special state of emergency across Israel to maintain security readiness.</span></p>
<p data-start="2217" data-end="2472" data-is-last-node="" data-is-only-node=""><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Iran&rsquo;s Supreme National Security Council had earlier warned that any strike on its soil would result in direct retaliation, including potential attacks on Israeli nuclear facilities, which Tehran claims to have located through recent intelligence efforts.</span></p>
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<div class="flex items-center justify-center"><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by the Benefit News editorial team and is published directly from the IANS news feed.</span></div>
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Iran names new military leaders after Israeli strikes kill top commanders and nuclear scientists

Iran Appoints New Chiefs After Israeli Airstrikes

Iran names new military leaders after Israeli strikes kill top commanders and nuclear scientists

June 13, 2025 | 17:13 IST