Top Iranian generals killed in Israeli attack
by Naharnet Newsdesk 13 June 2025, 16:24
Israel targeted leading members of Iran's armed forces on Friday during its unprecedented onslaught hitting military and nuclear targets across the country.
Here is what we know about some of the top figures killed:
- Armed forces chief of staff Bagheri -
General Mohammad Bagheri was the highest-ranking officer in the Iranian armed forces and was responsible for overseeing the army, the Revolutionary Guards and the country's ballistic missile program.
In office since 2016, Bagheri worked directly under the authority of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei -- Iran's ultimate decision maker and the commander-in-chief of its armed forces.
As second in command, Bagheri held wide-ranging authority over much of Iran's military formations and appeared regularly on television in uniform -- including notably at the inauguration of underground military bases.
He also played a key role in developing Iran's ballistic missile program.
The arsenal, originally developed to compensate for Iran's weak air force during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, significantly increased its range and precision over the years.
Israel has long viewed these capabilities as an existential threat from its sworn enemy and has twice been targeted by massive barrages fired by Iran at its territory.
"The Zionist enemy should know that it is nearing the end of its miserable life," Bagheri once declared, while referring to Israel as "a cancerous tumor".
In 2022, Bagheri stated that Iran was "more than self-sufficient" in arms and equipment, boasting that the country would become one of the world's top arms exporters if sanctions were lifted.
The general was placed under US sanctions during President Donald Trump's first term and later sanctioned by the European Union following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.
At that time, Bagheri mocked the EU, suggesting it should use Iran's frozen assets to "buy coal" to heat itself in winter amid Russia's war in Ukraine aided by Iranian weapons.
Born in June 1960, Bagheri succeeded Hassan Firouzabadi, who had served as chief of staff of the armed forces for 26 years.
- Revolutionary Guards commander Salami -
Iran's Revolutionary Guards chief Hossein Salami was a veteran officer close to supreme leader Khamenei and known for his tirades against Israel and its US ally.
"If you make the slightest mistake, we will open the gates of hell for you," the white-bearded general warned Tehran's arch foes during a tour of an underground missile base in January.
Born in 1960 in central Iran, Salami joined the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in 1980 at the start of the war launched by then Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
He spent most of his career in the Guards, which was set up after the 1979 overthrow of the Western-backed shah to defend the goals of the Islamic revolution.
The force is now a 125,000-strong grouping, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, although Iran has never released any official figure.
Salami rose through the ranks to become head of the Guards' air force division and was placed on Washington's sanctions blacklist.
He served as the corps' deputy commander for nine years before being promoted to the top job in 2019 as part of a major reshuffle.
Iran's revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini had made support for the Palestinian cause a centerpiece of Tehran's foreign policy and Salami repeatedly alluded to calls for Israel to be wiped from the map.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should "learn to swim in the Mediterranean Sea" in readiness to flee, he said in a 2018 speech.
The Revolutionary Guards played a central role in Iran's forward foreign policy in the Arab world, which saw Tehran-backed militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah wage war with Israel in Gaza and Lebanon.
- Aerospace commander Hajizadeh -
Born in Tehran in 1961, Amirali Hajizadeh led the Revolutionary Guards' aerospace force since its creation in 2009.
Last year he oversaw two direct attacks against Israel, earning him decorations bestowed by Khamenei.
In 2023 Hajizadeh made headlines when he said that Iran was still seeking to "kill" top US officials including President Trump in revenge for the 2020 assassination of top commander Qasem Soleimani.
- Scientists -
At least six nuclear scientists were killed in Friday's attack.
According to Tasnim news agency, they include Fereydoun Abbasi, a former head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, and Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, who was the president of the Islamic Azad University of Iran.
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