Israel says it has aerial superiority over Tehran, Iranian intelligence leader killed

Fox News

17 hours ago

The Israeli military claimed to have obtained "aerial superiority" over Tehran on Monday, as airstrikes launched by the Jewish state killed four senior Iranian intelligence officials.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it has degraded Iranian air defenses and missile systems to the point that Israeli planes can now operate over Tehran without facing major threats. It said Israel now controls the skies from western Iran to Tehran.
According to the Israeli military, "precise intelligence" from the IDF allowed Israeli Air Force (IAF) fighter jets to strike a structure in Tehran where several senior officials from Iranian intelligence were located. The strike eliminated Head of the Intelligence Organization Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Mohammad Kazemi, his deputy Mohammad Hassan Mohaqiq, Head of the Quds Force Intelligence Directorate Mohsen Bakri, and his deputy Abu al-Fadl Nikouei, the IDF said Monday.
"These officials played a central role in shaping Iran's strategic assessments and planning terrorist attacks against Israel, the West, and countries in the Middle East," the IDF said.
Kazemi, who has held the position since 2022, "was responsible for counterintelligence, espionage, and targeting opponents of the Iranian regime within Iran," according to the IDF. "In his role, Kazemi oversaw intelligence gathering for terrorist activities and the monitoring of Iranian citizens to suppress dissent and preserve the Iranian regime."
The Israeli military said Hassan Mohaqiq "previously chaired the Strategic Intelligence Department and played a key role in the regime's terrorist operations against Israel, the West, and countries in the Middle East."
Bakri and al-Fadl Nikouei "were primarily responsible for operational and intelligence support to members of the Iran's Axis of Terror, including Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and militias in Iraq," and they both "played a significant role in Iran's efforts to reestablish its presence in Syria and supported Hezbollah's military buildup in Lebanon," the IDF said.
Monday's announcement "marks a significant blow to the Iranian regime's intelligence apparatus and its ability to carry out terrorist attacks against the State of Israel," the IDF said. This comes after the IDF said its strikes killed the Head of the Intelligence Directorate in the Iranian Armed Forces General Staff last Friday.
The IDF has destroyed one-third of the Iranian regime's missile launchers since first launching its large-scale preemptive strike last Thursday, IDF spokesperson, Brigadier General Effie Defrin, said Monday.
The IAF destroyed more than 20 surface-to-surface missiles Sunday night before they were about to be launched toward the State of Israel, Defrin said.
Israel's air force completed several waves of strikes overnight, targeting approximately 100 military targets in Isfahan in central Iran.
"In these strikes, more than 20 missiles were simultaneously struck, minutes before they were to be launched toward Israel's home front," Defrin said. "In one of the strikes, after a missile launch cell was identified in real-time attempting to launch surface-to-surface missiles toward the State of Israel, the IAF eliminated the launch cell and destroyed the missiles."
Meanwhile, Iran fired a new wave of missile attacks on Israel early Monday, triggering air raid sirens across the country. Israeli emergency services reported at least eight killed and dozens more wounded in the fourth day of the conflict.
Powerful explosions, likely from Israel's defense systems intercepting Iranian missiles, rocked Tel Aviv shortly before dawn, according to the Associated Press. Plumes of black smoke rose into the sky over the major coastal city.
The latest salvo comes after a weekend of escalating tit-for-tat attacks between Israel and Iran that raised fears of a wider, more dangerous regional war.