Israeli drone chief says Iranian troops were seen fleeing bases in panic
Iranian troops fled in hysteria as drones struck Islamic Republic sites, an Israeli military commander said when describing scenes of chaos and disarray across military bases.
“With their eyes, or through their ears, or using other systems they had, they began running hysterically around their bases as if in a ‘scorched earth’ procedure,” said Major R, commander of Israel’s drone operations, in an interview with Channel 12.
“In one location we attacked, we hardly saw them returning — they were really scared.”
He said Israeli drone strikes caused significant psychological disruption and forced the relocation of missile launchers from western to eastern Iran.
The officer added that the drones served a dual purpose, carrying out both strikes and real-time reconnaissance to identify targets beyond previously gathered intelligence.
Iran’s state broadcaster has released footage showing the aftermath of an Israeli airstrike on the home of Ali Shamkhani, a top adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, in Tehran.
Shamkhani, who survived the attack with allegedly serious injuries, attended the funerals of slain generals on Saturday.
He told Iran's state TV that he was trapped under rubble for three hours following the Israeli airstrike on his home and sustained internal injuries.
"Israel knows why it targeted me, and I know too, but I can’t say why," Ali Shamkhani told the state TV on Saturday.
He also said the United States was not negotiating with Iran for the sake of reaching a deal but to "deceive" the Islamic Republic.
Iranian authorities have summoned and interrogated at least 35 Jewish citizens in Tehran and Shiraz over their contact with relatives in Israel, the US-based human rights group HRANA said.
The inquiries, which focused on personal ties with relatives in Israel, mark the most expansive state action against Iranian Jews in decades, HRANA reported.
“Emphasis was placed on avoiding any phone or online communication with abroad,” the rights group cited a source close to the families as saying.
Jews are not the only minority group being targeted. Iranian security forces raided at least 19 homes belonging to members of the Baha’i community during and after the Israel war, human rights groups say.
Analysts say the moves reflect both the state’s effort to project strength and its its reliance on targeting minorities when facing external setbacks.
Rights concerns
Pegah Bani-Hashmi, a senior legal researcher, told Iran International that the accusations of espionage against Jewish and Bahai citizens are “factually baseless and violate Iran’s own constitution.”
“These communities usually stay out of political activism,” she said. “There’s no legal or security justification for what the state is doing.”
Shahin Milani, director of the Human Rights Documentation Center, told Iran International the arrests expose the government’s failure to identify actual threats.
“Baha’is and other citizens don’t have access to classified information. They’re always under surveillance. Accusing them of spying is just an excuse to deflect blame and intimidate the population,” he said.
Iran’s parliament passed a law in 2011 banning travel to Israel. Many Iranian Jews maintain familial and religious ties there, and rights experts say the law has become a tool for suppression.
Community fears grow
A senior figure in Tehran’s Jewish community told HRANA that “we’ve seen limited cases before, but this is unprecedented.” He said the scale of recent summonses has triggered deep concern about the safety of their community.
Authorities have not issued formal charges but told families the actions are intended to gather information to prevent crimes.
Rights lawyers warn that these measures could constitute discrimination based on religion and ethnicity, in breach of Iran’s obligations under international law.
Rani Omrani, an independent journalist, told Iran International that Tehran’s tactics reflect its inability to confront Israel directly.
“Because they can’t reach Israel, they’re punishing innocent Jews at home,” he said.
US President Donald Trump once again denied that Iran had shielded or relocated its enriched uranium stockpiles ahead of a surprise US strike, saying Tehran had neither the time nor the means to do so.
“They didn't move anything. You know, they moved themselves. They were all trying to live,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News, set to air in full on Sunday.
Trump said moving those uranium stockpiles would have been “very heavy, very, very heavy” and “very dangerous to do.”
The president added that the operation came with little warning. “Nobody thought we’d go after that site, because everybody said that site is impenetrable.”
Israeli and American airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facility in Isfahan destroyed equipment critical to the production of nuclear weapons, The New York Times reported.
The targeted equipment is used in a process known as metallization, which converts enriched uranium gas into metal, one of the final steps in producing the explosive core of a nuclear bomb, the report said.
According to analysts quoted by The New York Times, the strikes on the metallization infrastructure have deprived the Islamic Republic of the ability to assemble a nuclear weapon in the near future.
State-sponsored ceremonies for 60 Iranian military personnel, commanders, and nuclear scientists killed in the war with Israel were held in Tehran on Saturday, amid the notable absence of any reports or images showing Ali Khamenei leading funeral prayers.
In recent years, Khamenei has personally led funeral prayers for many mid- and high-ranking commanders of the Islamic Republic killed in military conflicts.
Since the start of the war with Israel, he has been moved to an underground bunker, and aside from three pre-recorded video messages, no images or reports of his presence at public events or above ground have been released.
