Latest news with #SaeedIzadi
BBC News
24 minutes ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Targeting of Quds Force shows growing breach in Iranian intelligence security
If Israel's recent claims are confirmed, the assassinations of Saeed Izadi and Behnam Shahryari represent a major blow to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the elite Quds Force, its overseas operations arm which has ties with armed groups in the region. Izadi, a senior Quds Force commander responsible for coordination with Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups, was reportedly killed in an apartment in the Shia holy city of Qom. Shahryari, the head of Unit 190 - responsible for smuggling weapons and funds to Iran's regional proxies - was assassinated by a drone strike while traveling by car in western played a central role in co-ordinating Tehran's support for Palestinian armed groups and was reportedly instrumental in arming and financing Hamas, the Palestinian armed group which carried out the 7 October 2023 attack on southern Israel. The head of Israel's military, Eyal Zamir, said Izadi's assassination was "a key point in the multi-front war"."The blood of thousands of Israelis is on his hands," Zamir said. "This is a tremendous intelligence and operational achievement."Izadi previously narrowly survived an Israeli air strike in April 2024 that targeted the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria - an attack that killed several high-ranking Quds Force targeting of Izadi and Shahyari follow a wave of assassinations targeting senior Iranian military officials and highlight what many see as a growing breach within Iran's intelligence state TV last week broadcast images showing camouflaged lorries and vans that were allegedly used to transport drones, along with footage of makeshift FPV drone factories in the south of Tehran. Scores of people have been arrested and accused of spying for Mossad, including some Afghan refugees. Human rights groups fear that the authorities may be using accusations of espionage as a pretext to arrest anyone who opposes the government or criticises the IRGC and the country's officials were so concerned about the infiltration that several days ago they ordered all protection personnel not to use smartphones connected to the internet for communication. The police chief asked the public to report to the police if they have rented out any buildings to companies or individuals recently or in the past couple of attacked Iran on 13 June but a covert conflict has been simmering for over two decades, characterised by sabotage, cyber-attacks, and targeted killings. Nuclear scientists and Quds Force commanders in Syria and inside Iran have frequently been targeted. Israel's spy agency Mossad is widely believed to be behind many of these operations. One of the most dramatic episodes occurred in 2018, when Mossad agents infiltrated a highly secured warehouse in a militarised suburb of Tehran. They broke into vaults and extracted thousands of top-secret Iranian nuclear documents, physically transporting them to Tel Aviv. The operation stunned Iran's intelligence this day, Iranian authorities remain mystified. Earlier this year former Iranian intelligence minister Mahmoud Alavi admitted that Iranian services still had no idea how the secret nuclear documents storage was breached and how those behind it escaped name in the stolen documents stood out: Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who played a crucial role in Iran's nuclear programme. Israel accused him of working on nuclear weapons. Iran denies the existence of any such 2020, Fakhrizadeh was assassinated near Tehran by a remote-controlled weapon, activated by agents. Despite warnings, including from Alavi, the intelligence failure was total. The extent of Mossad infiltration into Iran's intelligence services has long been a matter of speculation. In 2021, former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed that the head of Iran's counter-Mossad unit was himself an Israeli agent - that individual was later arrested and executed in same year, former intelligence minister Ali Younesi warned that "Mossad is closer to us than our own ears", underscoring the perceived depth of Israeli recent years, Israel is also believed to have pre-positioned small drones and explosives inside Iran, trained operators and planted them near the homes of IRGC commanders and near radar and missile its initial attack on 13 June, Israel killed top Iranian military figures including the Armed Forces Chief of Staff, the IRGC Chief of Staff and the head of IRGC missile and aerospace divisions, as well as a number of nuclear successful operation points to a troubling truth for Iran's leadership: their internal security has been deeply compromised.
BBC News
24 minutes ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Israel says it killed Iran's military coordinator with Hamas
Israel says it has killed a senior Iranian commander who helped plan Hamas's 7 October 2023 attack on southern Israel, in a strike on Saturday on the city of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the killing of Saeed Izadi marked a key point in the conflict. He was "one of the orchestrators" of the attack, which killed about 1,200 people and saw many others taken to Gaza as hostages, said IDF chief Eyal Zamir."The blood of thousands of Israelis is on his hands," he said on Saturday, calling it a "tremendous intelligence and operational achievement."Iran is yet to confirm Izadi's killing and has previously denied involvement in Hamas's attack. Live updatesThe IDF said it had killed Izadi in a strike on an apartment in Qom, south of Tehran, in the early hours of Saturday. He had been in charge of the Palestine Corps of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps's (IRGC) Quds Force, responsible for handling ties with the Palestinian armed was reportedly instrumental in arming and financing Hamas, and had been responsible for military co-ordination between senior IRGC commanders and Hamas leaders, the IDF April 2024, Izadi narrowly survived an Israeli air strike targeting the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria - an attack that killed several high-ranking Quds Force later on Saturday also claimed to have killed another Quds Force commander, Behnam Shahriyari in a drone strike as he was travelling in a car through western had been responsible for transporting missiles and rockets to Iran's proxy groups across the region, including Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, said the Israeli claims are confirmed, the assassinations of Izadi and Shahryari represent a major blow to the attacks come as the conflict between the two countries entered its ninth day, with both launching new attacks on Saturday. Iran said Israel had targeted a nuclear facility near the city of Isfahan. Israel said it was targeting military infrastructure in south-west Iran and reported at least one impact from Iranian drones that entered its Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi meanwhile told reporters in Istanbul that any US involvement in the conflict would be "very very dangerous". On Friday he told European envoys in Geneva on Friday that Iran would not resume talks over its nuclear programme until Israel's strikes Trump has suggested US involvement in Israel's strikes on Iran, saying Tehran had a "maximum" of two weeks to avoid possible American air strikes if they did not negotiate on their nuclear officials say least 430 people, including military commanders, have been killed and 3,500 injured in Iran since the conflict began on 13 June. A human rights group tracking Iran, the Human Rights Activists News Agency, put the unofficial death toll at 657 on Israel, officials say 25 people have been killed including one of a heart attack.
Yahoo
29 minutes ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Israel strikes Iran's Isfahan nuclear site, buildings on fire in Tel Aviv
A key nuclear site in Iran's Isfahan province has come under Israeli attack, with local officials saying there were no radiation leaks. Early on Saturday, smoke could be seen rising from an area near a mountain in the city of Isfahan after Israeli air strikes hit the nuclear site overnight, triggering the air defence system. It was the second attack on Isfahan as the conflict between the Middle Eastern nations entered a second week, killing at least 430 people and wounding nearly 3,500 others in Iran, according to Iran's health ministry. No casualties were reported in the Isfahan attack, authorities said. Israeli forces also hit a military installation in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz in Fars province, according to Iranian media. On the Israeli side, explosions were heard above Tel Aviv, where buildings were seen on fire. In central Israel, the emergency services released images showing fire on the roof of a multi-storeyed residential building. Local media reports said the blaze was caused by falling debris from an Iranian missile that was intercepted. At least 24 people have been killed by Iranian missile attacks in Israel, according to local authorities, in the worst conflict between the longtime Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday that Israel has killed Saeed Izadi, who led the Palestine Corps of the Quds Force, the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps' (IRGC) overseas arm, in a strike on an apartment in the Iranian city of Qom. Calling his killing a 'major achievement for Israeli intelligence and the Air Force', Katz said in a statement that Izadi had allegedly financed and armed the Palestinian group Hamas ahead of its October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. IRGC said five of its members died in Israeli attacks, according to Iranian media. They did not mention Izadi, who was on United States and British sanctions lists. Hostilities broke out on June 13 when Israel launched air strikes on several sites across Iran, including military and nuclear facilities, prompting Tehran to launch retaliatory strikes. Israel claims it attacked Iran to prevent it from developing a nuclear bomb, although Iranian negotiators were engaged in talks with the US to curb its enrichment programme in exchange for sanctions relief. The International Atomic Energy Agency and US intelligence have both said there were no signs that Iran was building a nuclear weapon, despite Tehran having enriched uranium beyond the threshold needed for civilian purposes. However, Trump on Friday said US intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard was 'wrong' in saying that Iran was not developing a nuclear government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani told Al Jazeera that Tehran remains open to dialogue at the United Nations and other such forums. 'We believe in listening to the other side. That's why our diplomats are present in Geneva, to hear the other side out,' Mohajerani said, adding that any diplomacy must begin with global recognition of Israel's attack on Iran. Al Jazeera's Tohid Asadi, reporting from Tehran, said Iranians are angry over Israel 'not just targeting nuclear facilities and military complexes'. 'The reality on the ground is ordinary people are being attacked on a daily basis,' he said. 'Many in the Iranian capital have chosen to leave, but we have to keep in mind we're talking about 10 million people living in Tehran city and 14 million in Tehran province. It's putting pressure on surrounding areas.'
Al Jazeera
an hour ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Israel strikes Iran's Isfahan nuclear site, buildings on fire in Tel Aviv
A key nuclear site in Iran's Isfahan province has come under Israeli attack, with local officials saying there were no radiation leaks. Early on Saturday, smoke could be seen rising from an area near a mountain in the city of Isfahan after Israeli air strikes hit the nuclear site overnight, triggering the air defence system. It was the second attack on Isfahan as the conflict between the Middle Eastern nations entered a second week, killing at least 430 people and wounding nearly 3,500 others in Iran, according to Iran's health ministry. No casualties were reported in the Isfahan attack, authorities said. Israeli forces also hit a military installation in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz in Fars province, according to Iranian media. On the Israeli side, explosions were heard above Tel Aviv, where buildings were seen on fire. In central Israel, the emergency services released images showing fire on the roof of a multi-storeyed residential building. Local media reports said the blaze was caused by falling debris from an Iranian missile that was intercepted. At least 24 people have been killed by Iranian missile attacks in Israel, according to local authorities, in the worst conflict between the longtime enemies. Meanwhile, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Saturday that Israel has killed Saeed Izadi, who led the Palestine Corps of the Quds Force, the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps' (IRGC) overseas arm, in a strike on an apartment in the Iranian city of Qom. Calling his killing a 'major achievement for Israeli intelligence and the Air Force', Katz said in a statement that Izadi had allegedly financed and armed the Palestinian group Hamas ahead of its October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. IRGC said five of its members died in Israeli attacks, according to Iranian media. They did not mention Izadi, who was on United States and British sanctions lists. Hostilities broke out on June 13 when Israel launched air strikes on several sites across Iran, including military and nuclear facilities, prompting Tehran to launch retaliatory strikes. Israel claims it attacked Iran to prevent it from developing a nuclear bomb, although Iranian negotiators were engaged in talks with the US to curb its enrichment programme in exchange for sanctions relief. The International Atomic Energy Agency and US intelligence have both said there were no signs that Iran was building a nuclear weapon, despite Tehran having enriched uranium beyond the threshold needed for civilian purposes. However, Trump on Friday said US intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard was 'wrong' in saying that Iran was not developing a nuclear bomb. Iranian government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani told Al Jazeera that Tehran remains open to dialogue at the United Nations and other such forums. 'We believe in listening to the other side. That's why our diplomats are present in Geneva, to hear the other side out,' Mohajerani said, adding that any diplomacy must begin with global recognition of Israel's attack on Iran. Al Jazeera's Tohid Asadi, reporting from Tehran, said Iranians are angry over Israel 'not just targeting nuclear facilities and military complexes'. 'The reality on the ground is ordinary people are being attacked on a daily basis,' he said. 'Many in the Iranian capital have chosen to leave, but we have to keep in mind we're talking about 10 million people living in Tehran city and 14 million in Tehran province. It's putting pressure on surrounding areas.'
LBCI
an hour ago
- Politics
- LBCI
Israel says commander of Palestinian unit in Iran's Quds Force killed
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Saturday that the military killed a senior commander in Iran's Quds Force, the overseas arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), in an airstrike targeting an apartment in the Iranian city of Qom. The commander was identified as Saeed Izadi, head of the Quds Force's Palestinian unit. Reuters
