Overview

• Hossein Salami reported directly to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and directed the IRGC’s intelligence, cyber and ballistic missile programs since 2019
• Operation Rising Lion was announced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a multi-day campaign against Iran’s nuclear and senior military targets
• Iranian state media confirmed Salami died in an overnight air raid on the IRGC headquarters in Tehran
• Security analysts warn his removal could disrupt Iran’s military coordination, and the IRGC has vowed a decisive counterattack
• The strike escalates a year-and-a-half conflict that has involved Israeli operations in Syria, Iranian drone and missile launches and proxy confrontations