The intelligence chief for Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has reportedly been killed by Israel amid growing conflict between the two countries.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Sunday afternoon that Israel targeted IRGC intelligence chief Mohammad Kazemi in a strike.
“Moments ago, we also got the chief intelligence officer and his deputy in Tehran because we’re now over the skies of Tehran,” Netanyahu told Fox News’s Bret Baier.
Iranian state media confirmed Kazemi and his deputy Hassan Mohaqiq were killed in a strike, the Times of Israel reported. Another Iranian intelligence officer was also reportedly killed.
Iran and Israel launched a third day of attacks against each other Sunday, and some Iranian missiles have made it past Israel’s air defenses.
Israel has killed a number of nuclear scientists and top Iranian commanders in its strikes, including Gen. Hossein Salami, commander-in-chief of the IRGC.
“I think we’ve set them back quite a bit,” Netanyahu said Sunday of Israel’s strikes, touting the element of surprise in launching widespread attacks on Thursday night.
Netanyahu argued that U.S. talks with Iran over Tehran’s nuclear program were not heading toward a resolution, and he did not want to wait until talks were officially called off to hit first.
“That’s not how I conduct wars, and it’s not how Israel conducts wars,” he said.
The Trump administration had pushed for a diplomatic solution to limit Iran’s nuclear enrichment and engaged in multiple rounds of talks with Iranian negotiators to try to reach a deal before Israel launched its attacks.
Following Israel’s initial attack on Iran, the Trump administration has stressed Israel acted unilaterally, though President Trump acknowledged Sunday the U.S. could get pulled into the conflict given its close relationship with Israel.
“We’re not involved in it. It’s possible we could get involved. But we are not at this moment involved,” Trump told ABC News.
Netanyahu in the Fox interview said Iran views Trump as “enemy number one,” while calling himself the president’s “junior partner” in efforts to rein in Iran’s nuclear powers.