The Israeli military said a series of strikes targeted some of Iran’s most senior security and defense figures, including the Supreme Leader's top advisers, commanders of the IRGC, and officials linked to Tehran’s missile and nuclear programs.
An Israeli military spokesman said on Saturday the following senior Iranian officials were among those targeted:
Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran’s Defense Council, was described as a central figure in Iran’s security decision-making process and a close personal adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on security affairs.
Mohammad Pakpour, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps since June 2025, was identified as one of the key architects of what Israel described as Iran’s “plan to destroy Israel.”
According to the spokesman, he commanded Iran’s central military force, oversaw the deployment of strategic fire systems against the State of Israel, and directed and supported Iranian-backed militant organizations across multiple fronts. He was also said to have played a leading role in the violent suppression of Iranian protesters during last month’s domestic unrest.
Salah Asadi, head of intelligence for Iran’s emergency command and a senior intelligence officer within the General Staff, was described as involved in shaping Iran’s strategy toward Israel and the United States and as extensively active in the “plan to destroy Israel.”
Mohammad Shirazi, who headed the military office of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei since 1989, was said to have been responsible for coordinating between senior armed forces commanders and the Supreme Leader, serving as a key figure at the top of Iran’s power structure.
Aziz Nasirzadeh, Iran’s defense minister and a former air force commander and deputy chief of staff of the armed forces, was described as responsible for long-range missile production facilities and weapons systems transferred to Iran’s proxy forces. The spokesman also said he oversaw the SPND organization, which advances projects in the fields of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.
Hossein Jabal Amelian, head of SPND, was described as responsible for developing advanced technologies and weapons for the Iranian regime, including projects related to nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.
Reza Mozaffari-Nia, former head of SPND, was said to have played a role in advancing efforts to develop nuclear weapons.
Tehran’s unveiling of a towering statue depicting the Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling before pre-Islamic Persian King Shapur I has renewed criticism of the Islamic Republic’s appeal to nationalist sentiment following the June war with Israel.
For over forty years, the theocracy purged ancient Persian history from schoolbooks, replacing it with post-Islamic narratives. But after the 12-day conflict with Israel, officials have turned to the distant pre-Islamic past to rally a divided society.
From murals of ancient kings and soldiers to patriotic songs added to Shi’ite mourning ceremonies performed before Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Tehran now embraces imagery once deemed heretical by its own revolutionary ethos.
'Kneel before Iran' campaign
Tehran’s Revolution (Enghelab) Square was the scene of an unusual spectacle on Friday as officials unveiled a massive bronze statue depicting Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling in submission before Sassanid King Shapur I, commemorating Iran’s victory at the Battle of Edessa (260 AD).
The event was held under the slogan “Kneel before Iran,” part of what authorities describe as a campaign to project “national unity and historical pride” following the June war with Israel.
Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani, a staunch ultraconservative, said on X: “Enmity with Great Iran can only end in kneeling before this historic nation.”
Municipal official Davood Goodarzi said the installation would be accompanied by visual displays depicting “other victories of Iranians over foreign aggressors,” including the defeat of British forces by local commander Rais-Ali Delvari, Mirza Kuchak Khan’s resistance against Russian troops, and Surena’s triumph over Rome at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BCE.
The goal, Goodarzi said, is “strengthening concepts such as national dignity, social unity, and Iranian identity.”
The statue, he said, would remain temporarily at Revolution Square before being moved to a city gateway “where it will stand as the first emblem of Iran before diplomats and foreign visitors.”
Unveiled women were allowed to attend the unveiling ceremony—an uncommon scene at events organized by Tehran’s ultra-hardline municipality.
The turn to the pre-Islamic past
The sharp reversal also recalls remarks once made by Khamenei. In a 2011 speech, he asserted that “all the great military victories of this nation came after Islam,” dismissing pre-Islamic accounts as “things that are not documented.”
In 1987, he had said that prophets triumphed over kings such as Cyrus and that “nothing remains of these monarchs in history but names remembered with derision.”
Nevertheless, pro-government social media accounts have now gone so far as to circulate posters equating Khamenei himself with Shapur, showing him standing with a staff as Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump kneel before him. The caption reads: “You will kneel before Iran.”
'Hypocrisy'
Pro-government figures have hailed the move as a patriotic success. Conservative political reporter Hossein Saremi posted: “Today’s grand Iranian gathering showed that people and the state share one essence: Iran itself. Nothing can take our homeland away.”
Others, however, called the spectacle “hypocrisy.” Journalist Gholamhossein Pashaei wrote on X: “Every year you close Pasargadae to stop people from celebrating Cyrus Day, yet you unveil Shapur’s statue in Enghelab Square with drums and fireworks during Fatimiyya (mourning period)!”
Dissident commentator Hamid Asafi called the ceremony “a perfect snapshot of the Islamic Republic’s contradictions.”
On Telegram he wrote: “A week ago they closed Cyrus’s tomb out of fear of the crowds, and now they glorify Shapur in the same breath. The Islamic Republic fears living history but poses for selfies with its corpse.”
He added: “They know people no longer respond to rosaries and sermons. That’s why they’ve brought history back to the stage—in a controlled costume. If they can’t erase the past, they’ll try to own it.”
The irony deepened as UNESCO formally recognized Cyrus’s Charter as one of the earliest human-rights documents.
President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on X: “Iran, the cradle of dialogue, justice, and coexistence, can still inspire peace today.”
Users swiftly replied, questioning how such pride could coexist with a government that blocks access to Cyrus’s tomb each year to those wishing to visit it on his birthday.