Israel says it killed Iran’s wartime chief, Khamenei’s close aide

Tel Aviv:  The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) on Tuesday announced that it had eliminated Ali Shadmani, Iran’s wartime chief of staff and close aide of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in an overnight strike.

“Following accurate intelligence received by the Intelligence Branch and a sudden opportunity during the night, Air Force fighter jets attacked a manned headquarters in the heart of Tehran and killed Ali Shadmani, the Chief of Staff of the War, the most senior military commander and the man closest to Iranian leader Ali Khamenei,” the IDF said in a post on X.

This is the second time in recent weeks that Israel has targeted and killed a high-ranking military commander of the regime, with an aim to disrupt Iran’s military leadership.

According to the Israeli military, Shadmani served as Chief of War Staff and Commander of the Armed Forces Emergency Command and commanded the Revolutionary Guards and the Iranian army.

“Prior to the assassination of his predecessor, Shadmani served as deputy commander of the Hatem Al-Aniba Emergency Command and head of the Operations Department of the Armed Forces General Staff. Shadmani’s assassination joins a series of assassinations of the highest military command in Iran and constitutes another blow to the chain of command of the Iranian armed forces,” the post further added.

The IDF further asserted that the “Khatem al-Anbiya” emergency command, under the assassinated Iranian officer’s command, was responsible for managing combat and approving Iranian fire plans.

In his various roles, the military said that Shadmani “directly influenced” Iranian fire plans to harm Israel.

Shadmani earlier replaced Gen. Gholam Ali Rashid, who was killed on Friday when Israel launched ‘Operation Rising Lion’ against Iran, a targeted military operation to roll back the Iranian threat of nuclear weapons to Israel’s very survival.

“In view of Lt. Gen. Gholamali Rashid’s martyrdom at the hands of the vile Zionist regime, and in light of Major General Ali Shadmani’s meritorious services & valuable experience, I confer the rank of Major Gen. & appoint him Commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya Central HQ,” Iranian Supreme leader Khamenei had posted on X.

Earlier in the day, Israel also announced the destruction of several surface-to-surface missiles and surface-to-air missile launchers of the Iranian regime as the hostilities between both nations escalated.

“Dozens of infrastructure for storing and launching surface-to-surface missiles and surface-to-air missile launchers of the Iranian regime were destroyed. Last night, Air Force fighter jets completed several waves of attacks against dozens of Iranian regime military targets in western Iran. As part of the waves of attacks, the Air Force attacked dozens of infrastructures for storing and launching surface-to-surface missiles, UAV storage sites, and surface-to-air missile launchers in western Iran,” said the Israel Defence Force (IDF) in a post on X.

The Israel-Iran conflict entered its fifth day, and hostilities between the two nations continued to escalate as several missiles from Iran were fired at Israel, triggering air raid sirens in Haifa and dozens of other cities and communities across northern Israel and the occupied Golan Heights, confirmed by the Israeli military.

–IANS