'Game of Thrones' inspired tactics behind Israel's Iran strike

Daily Mail​

5 hours ago

Israel's mission to wipe out Iran's top nuclear scientists and military leaders was years in the making and partially inspired by a particularly brutal scene in Game of Thrones. The operation, in which coordinated bombs rained down on Tehran in a stealth attack on June 13, was referred to within Israel's ranks as the 'Red Wedding.' The name references one of the most infamous moments of television history, in which key players from the HBO series were wiped out in one fell swoop during the long-running television series.
Israel's top generals watched as chaos descended upon Tehran from a bunker beneath the air force headquarters, waiting to learn if their meticulous plan had worked. In all at least 30 military officials, including the IRGC chief and Chief of Staff of Iran's Armed Forces, were killed, along with nine top Iranian scientists who were playing key roles in the nation's uranium enrichment program. US President Donald Trump followed up the strikes with an assault of his own, dropping the military's 'bunker busters' o n three of Iran's nuclear sites. He has since claimed the operation 'totally obliterated' Iran's nuclear capacity. As of Wednesday, a total of 1,054 people in Iran, including at least 318 military personnel, have died due to Israel's assault.
To make it happen, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began a weeks-long campaign of deception, fooling his own son and wife in the process and drawing the US into a fake disagreement to lull Iran's top brass into a false sense of security. He announced he would be taking a short break for a family vacation to celebrate his son Avner's wedding on June 16. In reality, Netanyahu had planned to delay the wedding - a detail he hadn't even shared with his son or his wife, Wall Street Journal reported.
Simultaneously, Netanyahu's team was leaking to journalists details of a rift with Trump over the US position on attacking Iran. Trump kept up appearances by publicly urging Israel not to launch any military strikes and celebrating that the US and Iran were 'fairly close to an agreement.' Netanyahu hoped that Iranian officials would not expect him to attack without explicit approval and support from the US. At this stage, Trump had been briefed about the strikes and was aware of what was to come.
The acts of deception meant that Israel's intelligence on key leaders' daily habits, whereabouts and patterns would would remain relevant, and prevent targets from going into hiding or changing their location. One of the most crucial elements of the plot was to hit Iran's armed forced simultaneously - which was the effort known as the Red Wedding. The plan was to limit Iran's ability to retaliate, giving drones and fighter jets more time to continue bombing missile launchers and nuclear targets.
But in the hours leading up to the strike, Israel's intelligence sources revealed key targets had left their locations. Israeli officials feared the ruse was up and Iran was aware of the imminent strike. But instead of dispersing, these leaders actually gathered together in one place, the report said. This allowed Israel to strike, totally decimating Iran's top military structure.
Mohammad Bagheri (pictured), the commander in chief of Iran's military and second highest commander after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was among the first casualties identified after the strikes. Hossein Salami, commander in chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps was also killed, along with Gholamali Rashid, the deputy commander in chief of the armed forces.
General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of the airspace unit of the Revolutionary Guards, Gen. Gholamreza Mehrabi, the deputy intelligence chief of the Armed Forces and Gen. Davood Sheikhian, the commander of air defense, were also wiped out. Simultaneously, bombs exploded at the homes of nine scientists, killing them instantly and at the same time. These targets had long been at the top of Israel's hit list.
A network of Israeli agents had been operating within Iran and watching the way leadership operated for decades, beginning in the 1990s when Israel first identified Iran's attempts to build a nuclear weapons program. In April and October of 2024, Israel launched strikes on Tehran to destroy Iran's advanced air defense systems, a successful mission which came in response to missile fire from Iran over Tel Aviv.
A month later in November 2024, Israel gathered 120 intelligence and air force officials together to draw up a list of priority targets in such a strike. Together, they listed 250 targets ranging from the nuclear scientists to military officials. Spies who had infiltrated Tehran smuggled in explosive-rigged drones and weaponry inside suitcases, trucks and shipping containers and began testing the long range capabilities of some of the drones it had in its arsenal.