Israel says it killed Iran's senior-most military official Ali Shadmani

Tel Aviv [Israel], June 17 (ANI): The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) on Tuesday claimed that it has killed Iran's senior-most military official and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's closest military advisor, Ali Shadmani, in an air force strike in Tehran.

In a post on X, IDF stated, "For the second time in 5 days, the IDF has eliminated Iran's War-Time Chief of Staff, the regime's top military commander. Ali Shadmani, Iran's senior-most military official and Khamenei's closest military advisor, was killed in an IAF strike in central Tehran, following precise intelligence."

The IDF has said that Israel's war against Iranian proxies continues on all fronts. According to the IDF, Israeli troops carried out a targeted operation to locate and map out large-scale underground Hamas infrastructure in Khan Yunis.

"Our war against Iranian proxies is on all fronts: Over the past two weeks, our troops conducted a targeted operation to locate and map out large-scale underground Hamas infrastructure in the area of the European Hospital in Khan Yunis, where the body of Mohammed Sinwar was found. We sealed the tunnel by pouring approximately 250 cubic meters of concrete into it. The operation in the area was carried out with precision and care to avoid damaging the hospital building," the IDF posted on X.

The conflict between Israel and Iran entered the fifth day on Tuesday, with both sides trading missile strikes. Civilians in key areas face waves of attacks. At least 224 people have been killed in Iran since the hostilities started, while 24 people have been killed in Israel, CNN reported.

While speaking to ABC News on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that targeting Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would not escalate but end the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran, which started last week.

When asked about reports that US President Donald Trump rejected an Israeli plan to assassinate Iran's Supreme Leader, concerned that it would escalate the conflict, Netanyahu responded, "It's not going to escalate the conflict, it's going to end the conflict."

He said, "We've had half a century of conflict spread by this regime that terrorises everyone in the Middle East; has bombed the Aramco oil fields in Saudi Arabia; is spreading terrorism and subversion and sabotage everywhere."

Netanyahu accused Iran of intending to have a forever war and blamed it for bringing Israel to the "brink of nuclear war."

Netanyahu stated, "The 'forever war' is what Iran wants, and they're bringing us to the brink of nuclear war. In fact, what Israel is doing is preventing this, bringing an end to this aggression, and we can only do so by standing up to the forces of evil."

When asked whether Israel would target Iran's Supreme Leader, he said that Israel was "doing what we need to do."

Refusing to share details regarding Israel's plan, he said, "I'm not going to get into the details, but we've targeted their top nuclear scientists." Speaking to ABC News, he said, "It's basically Hitler's nuclear team."

Last week, Israel launched a massive airstrike on Iranian military and nuclear sites, in a military operation named "Operation Rising Lion," in response to which Iran fired ballistic missiles at Israeli cities. (ANI)

(The story has come from a syndicated feed and has not been edited by the Tribune Staff.)