Iranian officials, top to bottom: Ali Shamkhani (top), Mohammed Pakpour (middle), Amir Nasirzadeh (bottom)
Deaths have been confirmed among Tehran's government and top military figures, but information on the fate of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian remains scarce.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said their strikes on Tehran targeted locations where high-ranking political and security figures were staying, according to the BBC.
Hours after the attack, reports emerged of officials being killed. Iranian Defense Minister Amir Nasirzadeh and Revolutionary Guard commander Mohammed Pakpour were killed in the Israeli strikes, two sources familiar with Israel's military operations and a regional source told Reuters.
Iran International, a London-based publication, also reports that Ali Shamkhani, a senior Iranian security official and secretary of Iran's Defense Council, has been killed. He is one of the top advisers to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Iran's foreign minister said on Saturday that “we have lost some commanders, but it is not such a serious problem,” according to NBC. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is still alive “as far as I know,” Abbas Araghchi said.
What those present in Iran say
A few hours after the attacks carried out by the US and Israel, information about the fate of the most important people at the top of power is still scarce. The Internet is blocked in Iran, and the possibility of external confirmation is difficult.
Iranian state media denied reports that senior political officials and the country's army chief had been killed today.
President Masoud Pezeshkian is safe, his executive deputy Mohammad Jafar Qaempanah said in a post on X. The president's son, Youssef Pezeshkian, writes on Telegram that “this time the assassination attempts were unsuccessful.”
The army has denied the death of its commander, Major General Amir Hatami, and the hardline Fars news agency says Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) head Ali Larijani are dead.
Iran's attorney general warned on Saturday that authorities would take firm action against anyone spreading rumors or threatening national security in the wake of the US and Israeli attacks.
Target number 1
The US and Israel have repeatedly threatened Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei with elimination. The first wave of attacks launched on Saturday morning targeted, according to the information, even the leaders of the regime in Tehran, write Al Jazeera and Reuters.
Aged 86, Khamenei has been Iran's supreme leader since 1989. He succeeded the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who returned from exile and led the 1979 revolution in Iran that overthrew Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, an ally of the United States, writes Al Jazeera.
Khamenei holds ultimate authority over all branches of government, the military and the judiciary, while also acting as the leader of the Muslim community.
This is the number one target of the massive attack launched by the US and Israel in Iran. Did he survive? What the latest information says
