Heavy Israeli bombardments hit Tehran and multiple Iranian cities, destroying military assets and assassinating top security official Ali Larijani.
In conjunction with the US-led Operation Epic Wrath, Israel has conducted sweeping airstrikes across Iran. Hebrew-language sources celebrate the "decapitation" of Iranian leadership, confirming the targeted assassinations of Ali Larijani (Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council) and Basij commander Gholamreza Soleimani. Israeli media also heavily circulated reports that newly elevated Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei narrowly escaped a bunker strike. Farsi-language opposition networks and citizen journalists provided detailed accounts of the devastation, reporting dozens of explosions in Tehran, Karaj, and Shiraz that destroyed air defense systems and aircraft at Mehrabad Airport. Arabic-language sources corroborated the destruction of the Tehran space center and Khamenei's personal aircraft. In response to the strikes, Iranian state media and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi fiercely condemned the bombing of Tehran's fuel tanks as an "environmental war crime," warning of multi-generational ecological damage to the region's soil and groundwater.
Israeli sources frame the strikes as precise, successful tactical eliminations of terrorist infrastructure. Iranian state media attempts to shift the narrative to international law violations and environmental disaster, while Iranian opposition media highlights the regime's military vulnerability and internal panic.