The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that it has struck over 900 targets inside Iran as part of its wide-scale military campaign, Operation Rising Lion, which it says was launched to neutralize the Islamic Republic’s nuclear and missile capabilities.
According to an official IDF statement released Thursday, the operation has resulted in the deaths of 11 Iranian nuclear scientists and 30 senior security officials.
Among those killed, the IDF claims, were three top commanders within Iran’s military hierarchy.
CNN has previously confirmed the deaths of several high-ranking Iranian officials, including the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its air force commander.
According to CNN, the IDF stated that the strikes also destroyed over 200 missile launchers — a figure it says represents approximately half of Iran’s total missile launch infrastructure.
Additionally, several key aircraft and missile production facilities were targeted, which, according to the Israeli military, “prevented the manufacture of thousands of additional missiles.”
The military emphasized that the targets were strategically chosen to cripple Iran’s ability to launch sustained attacks against Israel.
However, CNN has not been able to independently verify the IDF’s claims regarding casualties or infrastructure damage.
In a separate development, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant spoke to Israel’s Channel 13 on Thursday and revealed that the military had no direct opportunity to assassinate Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during the operation.
However, he added pointedly that “we would have taken him out” if such an opportunity had arisen.
Operation Rising Lion represents one of Israel’s most expansive military campaigns against Iran to date, underscoring the depth of tensions between the two regional powers and the scale of Israel’s intelligence and strike capabilities across Iranian territory.
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