Regardless of claims by mainstream media, combined airstrikes by america and Israel over the previous two weeks had been extremely profitable, inflicting vital injury on Iran’s nuclear program and eliminating key navy leaders, together with high-ranking officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a U.S.-designated terrorist group that operates straight beneath Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran held a large state funeral in Tehran on Saturday for 60 people killed throughout its 12-day struggle with Israel, together with prime navy commanders, nuclear scientists, and their members of the family. State media claimed that over a million individuals attended, with authorities workplaces closed to permit public workers to hitch the procession. The size of the turnout underscored the severity of the blow to Iran’s navy and scientific management throughout the coordinated U.S.-Israeli strikes.
In whole, the mixed assaults resulted in over 1,000 deaths, together with not less than 417 civilians, in keeping with a U.S.-based human rights group. Iran’s retaliatory marketing campaign concerned firing greater than 550 ballistic missiles at Israel, killing 28 individuals earlier than a ceasefire was declared.
Chants of “Death to America” and “Demise to Israel” echoed all through the procession, reflecting the home political strain on Iran’s management within the aftermath of its strategic losses.
Among the many useless had been a few of Iran’s strongest navy and scientific figures, representing essentially the most vital lack of senior management for the reason that Iran-Iraq Warfare of the Nineteen Eighties. Intelligence sources affirm that roughly 30 senior commanders had been killed, together with Main Normal Hossein Salami, head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and Mohammad Bagheri, chief of workers of Iran’s armed forces. Additionally killed was Main Normal Gholamali Rashid, commander of the IRGC’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters and former deputy chief of workers of the armed forces.
Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the IRGC Aerospace Power and architect of Iran’s missile program, was amongst these eradicated. He had overseen Iran’s ballistic missile assaults on Israel in April 2024 and the 2020 missile strike on a U.S. base in Iraq. He additionally admitted duty for the 2020 downing of a Ukrainian passenger airplane.
The strikes additionally focused Iran’s nuclear equipment. Not less than 11 nuclear scientists had been confirmed killed, together with figures from Iran’s Atomic Vitality Group and prime universities. Notable casualties embrace Fereydoun Abbasi, former head of the Atomic Vitality Group (2011–2013), and Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, president of Islamic Azad College in Tehran. Different slain scientists embrace Abdolhamid Manouchehr, Ahmad Reza Zolfaghari, Amirhossein Feghi, and Motalibizadeh.
The marketing campaign additionally eradicated key regime figures, together with Ali Ghanaatkar, the infamous Evin Jail prosecutor identified for imprisoning dissidents resembling Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi.
Israeli and U.S. strikes prolonged past Tehran, systematically concentrating on regional IRGC command constructions and proxy networks. Saeed Izadi, longtime commander of the Palestine Corps of the Quds Power and a key coordinator between Iran and Hamas, was described by Israeli officers as “one of many important orchestrators of the October 7 bloodbath.”
Behnam Shahriyari, commander of the Quds Power’s Weapons Switch Unit, was additionally killed; he was chargeable for weapons shipments to Iran’s proxies throughout the Center East. A number of different intelligence chiefs and area commanders tied to Iran’s proxy community had been reportedly eradicated.
Based on the Institute for Science and Worldwide Safety, the coordinated U.S.-Israeli strikes inflicted unprecedented destruction on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. At Natanz, the “workhorse” of Iran’s enrichment program, underground halls housing over 18,400 centrifuges had been severely broken, rendering them inoperable. The above-ground Pilot Gas Enrichment Plant, which contained roughly 1,700 superior IR-4 and IR-6 centrifuges enriching uranium to 60%, was fully destroyed. This facility had served as Iran’s main web site for centrifuge analysis and growth.
Following Israeli strikes, U.S. forces carried out precision “double faucet” assaults utilizing GBU-57 Huge Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bombs, with successive bombs directed by the identical penetration factors. At Fordow, twelve MOPs focused deeply buried enrichment halls, collapsing infrastructure across the cascade space. The Israel Atomic Vitality Fee assessed the Fordow web site as destroyed and inoperable.
The Isfahan nuclear advanced was hit in three separate waves. Assaults destroyed the enriched uranium metallic conversion plant, induced extreme injury to uranium hexafluoride manufacturing services, and collapsed tunnel entrances to underground storage websites.
Conservative estimates place rapid Iranian losses from these nuclear strikes at $2–4 billion in direct injury, with potential reconstruction prices reaching $5–10 billion. This consists of $200–500 million in misplaced centrifuge {hardware}, $1–2 billion for underground facility reconstruction, and $500 million to $1 billion in misplaced enrichment capability and delays. Restoration will probably be additional hindered by inflation, heightened safety wants, and worldwide procurement restrictions.
Past the nuclear program, the marketing campaign devastated Iran’s broader navy infrastructure. A number of ballistic missile manufacturing services, storage websites, radar stations, air protection programs, and Quds Power command facilities had been destroyed. Intelligence assessments affirm that dozens of missile launchers and underground silos throughout Kermanshah, Tabriz, Isfahan, Tehran, and western Iran had been eradicated. IRGC-run ammunition depots, radar installations, and key energy infrastructure, together with substations and backup mills, had been additionally taken offline.
The Institute concluded that the strikes “successfully destroyed Iran’s centrifuge enrichment program,” estimating that will probably be a very long time earlier than Iran can get well its earlier functionality. IDF Chief of Workers Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir echoed this, stating: “We considerably broken the nuclear program, and I can even say that we set it again by years—I repeat, years.”
