A predawn Israeli airstrike on Iran’s capital Friday killed Major General Hossein Salami, commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), in a dramatic escalation of regional tensions. The attack, confirmed by Iran’s Tasnim News Agency, targeted residential areas in Tehran just days before crucial nuclear negotiations between Iran and the United States.
According to the Tasnim report, “the attack, carried out by the Zionist regime, struck multiple residential buildings in Tehran, resulting in the death of civilians and extensive property damage.”
The strike claimed the life of General Salami, a pivotal figure in Iran’s security architecture who had led the IRGC since 2019. Other top Iranian figures assassinated were General Gholam-Ali Rashid, and the nuclear scientists Dr. Tehranchi and Dr. Fereydoon Abbasi.
The immediate aftermath saw Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport suspend all flights indefinitely, while emergency crews worked to extract casualties from the rubble of damaged buildings.
The timing proves particularly volatile, coming just 48 hours before scheduled nuclear talks between Iranian and American diplomats – negotiations that now face serious uncertainty.
Regional analysts describe the strike as one of the most significant escalations in the shadow war between Israel and Iran, marking the first time Israel has directly targeted such a senior Iranian military figure on home soil.
The attack follows months of heightened tensions, including suspected Israeli strikes on Iranian assets in Syria and Iran’s recent missile tests.
As security forces cordoned off affected neighborhoods in Tehran, government officials vowed retaliation, with state media calling the strike “a cowardly act of aggression.”
The incident threatens to derail not only the upcoming nuclear talks but also regional stability, as Iran’s network of proxy forces across the Middle East may be mobilized in response. This story is developing.
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