Tehran: The commander in chief of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Hossein Salami was killed in Israeli airstrikes on Tehran Friday, Iran’s official news agency IRNA reported.
Senior IRGC commander Gholamali Rashid and nuclear scientists Fereydoun Abbasi and Mohammad-Mehdi Tehranchi were also killed in the attacks, according to the state-run agency.
Iran’s UN ambassador said on Friday that 78 people have been killed and over 320 injured in Israeli attacks.
The IRGC headquarters in Tehran was among the targets hit during the Israeli operation, Iranian state media reported.
Israeli warplanes attacked military targets in Tehran early on Friday, with explosions heard across the Iranian capital and Israel declaring a national emergency in preparation for retaliation.
Air raid sirens sounded in Jerusalem and other Israeli cities as officials warned of an imminent Iranian counterattack.
Witnesses in Tehran reported seeing jets strike military bases in the eastern part of the city, creating large fires and smoke plumes.
Iranian officials said fighter jets were deployed to intercept the Israeli aircraft.
