{"id":15200,"date":"2025-06-13T04:21:25","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T03:21:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/londonpost.news\/?p=15200"},"modified":"2025-06-13T04:42:03","modified_gmt":"2025-06-13T03:42:03","slug":"middle-east-israel-hits-iran-with-preemptive-strikes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/be\/asia\/middle-east\/israel\/middle-east-israel-hits-iran-with-preemptive-strikes\/2025\/06\/13\/admin1\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel assassinates IRGC Chief in massive strikes on Iranian nuclear sites; Tehran vows retaliation"},"content":{"rendered":"

TEL AVIV, Israel. June 13(Agencies) – Israel launched large-scale airstrikes on Iranian nuclear and military sites early Friday, killing Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Hossein Salami<\/strong>\u2014a top Iranian military leader\u2014and other senior figures. Iranian state media confirmed Salami\u2019s assassination alongside\u00a0General Gholam Ali Rashid<\/strong>\u00a0(deputy army commander) and\u00a0nuclear scientists Fereydoun Abbasi and Mohammad Mahdi<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Explosions rocked Tehran<\/strong>\u00a0and the\u00a0Natanz uranium enrichment facility<\/strong>, a critical nuclear site in Isfahan province. Iranian state TV reported “loud blasts” across the capital, civilian casualties, and thick black smoke rising from Natanz hours after initial strikes.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s military stated “dozens of IAF jets” struck “dozens of\u00a0Iranian nuclear targets<\/strong>\u00a0and military sites.” Prime Minister\u00a0Benjamin Netanyahu<\/strong>\u00a0claimed the operation targeted Iran\u2019s “ballistic missile programme<\/strong>” and leading nuclear scientists. Simultaneously, Defense Minister\u00a0Yisrael Katz<\/strong>\u00a0declared a nationwide\u00a0state of emergency<\/strong>, closed schools, and warned of an imminent “missile and drone attack<\/strong>” from Iran, calling the strikes “preemptive<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

More:Khamenei vows “severe punishment” after Israeli strikes kill IRGC commanders in Tehran | Brussels Independent<\/a><\/p>\n

Military Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir<\/strong>\u00a0mobilized “tens of thousands of soldiers,” vowing Israel is “prepared across all borders” and that challengers “will pay a heavy price.”<\/p>\n

Iran condemned the attacks as a “clear violation of international law<\/strong>.” Its Foreign Ministry reserved the right to “respond decisively<\/strong>,” while armed forces pledged “strong retaliation<\/strong>,” warning Tel Aviv would “pay a heavy price<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

The\u00a0United States denied involvement<\/strong>, with Secretary of State\u00a0Marco Rubio<\/strong>\u00a0stating: “Israel took unilateral action<\/strong>. We are not involved in strikes against Iran,” and cautioning Iran against targeting\u00a0U.S. interests<\/strong>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TEL AVIV, Israel. June 13(Agencies) – Israel launched large-scale airstrikes on Iranian nuclear and military sites early Friday, killing Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander Hossein Salami\u2014a top Iranian military leader\u2014and other senior figures. Iranian state media confirmed Salami\u2019s assassination alongside\u00a0General Gholam Ali Rashid\u00a0(deputy army commander) and\u00a0nuclear scientists Fereydoun Abbasi and Mohammad Mahdi. Explosions rocked […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15201,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":""},"categories":[2452,8273],"tags":[743,2766,9687,9688,9689,9690],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Iran-strike.png","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15200"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15200"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15213,"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15200\/revisions\/15213"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}