ISRAEL’S military claimed it has killed Iran’s most senior military commander – and the person closest to the Supreme Leader – for the second time in five days.
The IDF announced it had assassinated Major General Ali Shademani after he replaced Gholam Ali Rashid, who was taken out in Israel’s initial blitz on Friday night.
The IDF said that Shademani’s new position made him Iran’s “War-Time Chief of Staff, the most senior military commander, and the closest figure to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei”.
The force added: “He commanded both the Revolutionary Guards and the Iranian Armed Forces.
“In his various roles, he had a direct influence on Iran’s offensive plans targeting the State of Israel.”
The previous chief, Gholam Ali Rashid, was killed by Israeli missiles on Friday night, along with various other high-ranking officials and nuclear scientists.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei quickly announced replacements for the heads of the Iranian Army and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
One of these was Shademani, who became Chief of Staff of the Iranian Army.
Also eliminated in Israel’s first, ferocious wave of attacks was Commander-in-Chief of the IRGC, Major General Hossein Salami.
His replacement is Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour, whose safety now looks incredibly vulnerable.
The swift removal of the Iranian army’s replacement suggests that Israel continues to have the upper hand in intelligence capabilities.
The regime has already ordered top officials to ditch their mobile phones, according to the Jerusalem Post, but this evidently has not stopped the IDF locating them.
Israel and Iran continued to trade missiles for a fourth night from Monday into Tuesday.
Tehran’s civilians were seen fleeing the city in their thousands, but no casualties were reported by Tel Aviv.
US President Donald Trump left the G7 summit in Canada a day early, and warned “foolish” Iran to evacuate “everyone” from Tehran immediately.
This stoked fears of an imminent escalation – though American officials maintain the US will not collaborate in Israel’s strikes on Iran.
Trump said: “I have to be back as soon as I can,” with the White House pinning his return on “what’s going on in the Middle East”.
He had originally been scheduled to stay in Canada until late on Tuesday, but by midday Monday had begun signalling he would take flight early.
Iran on Tuesday morning warned it would ramp-up its attacks on Israel.
The Revolutionary Guard announced that a “more powerful” new wave of weapons had been launched, which involved “hundreds” of drones.
Iran on Monday night vowed to strike Israel “without interruption until dawn” – though did not appear to have inflicted significant damage.
