Israel confirmed that in those big airstrikes over the weekend—part of what’s being called Operation Roaring Lion—they took out some really top most high-ranking people in the Iran’s intelligence ministry.
The big name everyone’s talking about is Sayed Yahya Hamidi. He was the Deputy Minister of Intelligence specifically handling “Israel Affairs.” According to the Israeli side, this guy was the one orchestrating a lot of the regime’s dirty work—plotting attacks on Jewish communities, Western targets, and even Iranians who oppose the government, whether inside the country or overseas. The IDF says he was killed right in the opening wave when they hit the Ministry of Intelligence headquarters in Tehran.
They also mentioned Jalal Pour Hossein, who headed up the espionage division. The Israelis are framing this as a major hit to Iran’s ability to run terror ops abroad and keep cracking down on dissent at home. One of their statements basically said these eliminations “dealt a severe blow” to the whole setup.
This all kicked off Saturday in a massive joint U.S.-Israeli campaign that’s now into its third day. We’re talking thousands of targets hit—missile sites, nuclear stuff, command centers—and yeah, it’s wild: reports say Supreme Leader Khamenei himself was taken out early on, along with a bunch of other top military and political figures. Iran’s been firing back with missiles and drones nonstop, but the leadership losses are huge.
Iran hasn’t officially confirmed these specific intelligence deaths yet (no big surprise there with everything going on), but the IDF put it out pretty clearly, backed by what they call precise intel. It’s part of this broader push that’s got everyone watching to see if it tips things toward regime collapse or just ramps up the chaos even more.
Markets are jittery, oil prices jumping around, and folks are worried about it spreading wider.
Sources:
The Jerusalem Post
The Times of Israel
NDTV
Iran International
Al Jazeera
IDF official statements (via X and press releases)
Reuters
The Guardian
