Gone in 60 seconds.

IDF eliminates Iran's Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces and the Supreme Leader of the Iranian

At approximately 8:10 on Saturday, February 28th, close to 200 Israeli aircraft began a mission code-named Genesis. This was the largest coordinated air strike in the Israeli Air Forces’ history.

One core objective - as part of the broader goal to eliminate the existential threat posed by Iran - was to significantly degrade the Iranian regimes command-and-control capabilities and its ability to coordinate regional aggression.

It took months of preparation.

An extension of military force dependent on intelligence superiority despite the thousand miles between Israel and Iran.

Careful coordination with the United States’ military, which, as CENTCOM shared, is relying in its part on “the largest regional concentration of American military firepower in a generation.”

And it all came down to sixty seconds.

Over the course of sixty seconds, Irans top military and defense leadership was defanged.

One minute…to successfully eliminate forty key leaders, including seven members of the top Iranian security leadership who had gathered at several locations in Tehran.

But two stand apart.

• Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Iranian' terrorist regime. As I shared, he was targeted in his main leadership compound in the heart of Tehran. A reign that has lasted since 1989, and propagated an extremist ideology against the State of Israel and the entire Western world, comes to an end.

• Abdolrahim Mousavi, who served as Chief of Staff of the armed forces. Mousavi succeeded Mohammad Bagheri, the Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces (who was eliminated during the first moments of Operation “Rising Lion” in June 2025). Mousavi stood at the head of a brutal military that was bent on destroying the State of Israel.

I shared another seven senior leaders that were eliminated in yesterday’s post:

Operation Roaring Lion: Inside the Largest Air Operation in Israeli History

Beyond the Opening Salvo

• The IDF has eliminated most of the aerial defense systems in western and central Iran and has made strong progress towards establishing aerial superiority over the skies of Tehran.

• Missile-hunting operations - efforts to prevent more missiles from being launched against Israel - are ongoing. This includes targeting of missiles that are being transported, launchers and more.

• Strikes against regime targets are ongoing, like the video below of strikes against regime headquarters in Tehran.

• Active missile defense - attempts to intercept Iranian UAVs and missiles - continue as Iranian attacks spread across other Middle East countries.

The Homefront

Since the beginning of Operation ‘Roaring Lion’ the Iranian regime has been targeting civilians. We know that this is their strategy.

While the situation in Beit Shemesh is still unfolding, we currently know that 9 people have been killed in Iran’s recent ballistic missile strike. Many more have been injured.

I send my deepest condolences to the families.

In another tragic incident yesterday, a woman in Tel Aviv was killed after a missile struck near a residential building in Tel Aviv. My heart goes out to her family.

When we speak about the threat from Iran, this is what it looks like in real life.

We will continue to do everything we can to remove these capabilities from this blood-thirsty terror regime.

Stay tuned and I’ll keep you posted on more as operation Roaring Lion develops.

LTC Nadav Shoshani

IDF Spokesperson for International Media