TEL AVIV/QOM (BN24) — Israel said Saturday it had killed senior Iranian Quds Force commander Saeed Izadi in a targeted airstrike as both nations traded fresh attacks, further inflaming a week-long conflict that shows no signs of de-escalation.
Defense Minister Israel Katz called the assassination of Izadi — the head of the Palestine Corps within Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — a “major achievement” for Israel’s intelligence and air forces. The commander, long accused by Israeli officials of arming and funding Hamas before its deadly Oct. 7, 2023 assault, was reportedly killed in an airstrike on an apartment in the religious city of Qom.
“Izadi played a central role in Iran’s terror axis. His elimination sends a clear message,” Katz said.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guards have yet to confirm Izadi’s death. State-affiliated media acknowledged five IRGC members were killed in Israeli attacks on the city of Khorramabad but made no mention of the top commander. Earlier reports from Iran indicated that a 16-year-old was killed and two others injured in the Qom strike.
Iran’s Fars news agency also claimed that Israel targeted the Isfahan nuclear facility—one of the country’s largest—but added there was no hazardous material leakage.
In its own statement, the Israeli military said it had conducted widespread airstrikes against Iranian missile storage and launch sites. Iran’s air defense units responded with a barrage of missiles that triggered sirens across central Israel, including Tel Aviv and the occupied West Bank. Explosions and air defense interceptions were visible in the skies over Israel’s commercial hub, though no injuries were reported.
Among the casualties so far are 639 Iranians, including top military officials and nuclear scientists, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. On Saturday, Iran’s health minister accused Israel of targeting medical facilities, claiming that three hospitals had been hit, resulting in the deaths of two health workers and a child. Israel did not immediately respond to the accusation. Meanwhile, a hospital in Beersheba was struck by an Iranian missile on Thursday.
In Israel, at least 24 civilians have been killed in Iranian missile strikes, Israeli authorities said.
The latest escalation follows Israel’s June 13 military offensive, which it said was aimed at halting Iran’s alleged progress toward nuclear weapons capability. Iran has repeatedly denied those claims, insisting its nuclear program is purely peaceful.
President Donald Trump, speaking Friday in New Jersey, said he believes Iran could acquire nuclear weapons “within weeks, or certainly within months,” contradicting assessments from some in his own administration, including Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
“We can’t let that happen,” Trump said, expressing skepticism over ongoing European-led diplomatic efforts to defuse the crisis.
Trump reiterated that he would make a decision within two weeks about possible U.S. military intervention, saying he wants to see whether “people come to their senses.” He added that asking Israel to scale back now would be “very hard… if somebody is winning.”
Despite continued European mediation efforts, Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araqchi ruled out negotiations while Israeli aggression persisted. Araqchi met with European foreign ministers in Geneva on Friday, but the talks yielded no breakthrough.
“Iran doesn’t want to speak to Europe. They want to speak to us,” Trump told reporters. “Europe is not going to be able to help in this one.”
U.S. State Department officials confirmed that hundreds of American citizens have fled Iran since the aerial conflict erupted.
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, told the Security Council that Israel would not cease operations “until Iran’s nuclear threat is dismantled.” In response, Iranian envoy Amir Saeid Iravani called for immediate Security Council intervention and expressed alarm at U.S. discussions of joining the war.
Russia and China issued urgent calls for de-escalation. But a senior Iranian official, speaking to Reuters, said Tehran would consider limitations on uranium enrichment—but not an outright ban, particularly “now under Israel’s strikes.”
Back in Iran, prominent regime figure Ali Shamkhani, a close ally of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, claimed he had narrowly survived an Israeli attack. “It was my fate to stay with a wounded body, so I stay to continue to be the reason for the enemy’s hostility,” he said in a statement carried by state media.
As military and diplomatic tensions mount, both sides appear entrenched, with little sign of a ceasefire in sight.
