Israeli strike on Iran that killed dozens of military leaders inspired by iconic ‘Game of Thrones' scene
A clinical Israeli strike that wiped out dozens of Iran's top military commanders was inspired by a brutal 'Game of Thrones' scene.
The stealth attack was code-named 'Red Wedding' — after a notorious massacre from the HBO series in which an entire family is slaughtered in mere minutes, the Times of Israel first reported.
The real-life operation on June 13 — part of the start of the 12-day war — saw more than 200 Israeli Air Force aircraft striking roughly 100 targets, specifically nuclear facilities and missile factories.
Advertisement
3 Iranians stand in front of a billboard carrying pictures of Iranian brass killed in the strikes, including late Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Mohammad Bagheri (top right.)
ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Like the 'Game of Thrones' scene, it quickly led to a bloodbath, obliterating a swath of high-ranking Iranian officials — including Gen. Hossein Salami, the head of Iran's Revolutionary Guard; Mohammad Bagheri, chief of the country's military; and Gholam Ali Rashid, head of Iran's emergency command.
Israel was able to trick some top commanders of Iran's air force into gathering for a meeting before they were targeted in one strike, Israeli officials previously revealed.
Meanwhile, Defense Minister Israel Katz said the Jewish state had been actively hunting Tehran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during the 12-day onslaught — but the ideal opportunity to assassinate him never came through.
Advertisement
'I estimate that if Khamenei had been in our sights, we would have taken him out,' Katz told Israeli TV on Thursday.
'But Khamenei understood this, went underground to very great depths and broke off contacts with the commanders who replaced those commanders who were eliminated, so it wasn't realistic in the end.'
Khamenei went into hiding after Israel launched its initial onslaught.
Advertisement
3 The stealth attack was code-named 'Red Wedding' after the notorious episode of 'Game of Thrones.'
HELENSLOAN
3 A building in Nobonyad Square suffered significant damage in Israeli airstrikes on June 13, 2025 in Tehran.
Majid Saeedi
He only surfaced Thursday to bizarrely claim victory over Israel and America after President Trump announced a cease-fire between the warring nations.
'The Islamic Republic was victorious and, in retaliation, delivered a hand slap to America's face,' Khamenei had claimed — despite Iran's heavy losses.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
San Francisco Chronicle
35 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
At least 34 people killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza as ceasefire prospects inch closer
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — At least 34 people were killed across Gaza by Israeli strikes, health staff say, as Palestinians face a growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza and ceasefire prospects inch closer. The strikes began late Friday and continued into Saturday morning, among others killing 12 people at the Palestine Stadium in Gaza City, which was sheltering displaced people, and eight more living in apartments, according to staff at Shifa hospital where the bodies were brought. Six others were killed in southern Gaza when a strike hit their tent in Muwasi, according to the hospital. The strikes come as U.S. President Donald Trump says there could be a ceasefire agreement within the next week. Taking questions from reporters in the Oval Office Friday, the president said, 'we're working on Gaza and trying to get it taken care of.' An official with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press that Israel's Minister for Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer, will arrive in Washington next week for talks on Gaza's ceasefire, Iran and other subjects. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Talks have been on again off again since Israel broke the latest ceasefire in March, continuing its military campaign in Gaza and furthering the Strip's dire humanitarian crisis. Some 50 hostages remain in Gaza, fewer than half of them believed to still be alive. They were part of some 250 hostages taken when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, sparking the 21-month-long war. The war has killed over 56,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. It says more than half of the dead were women and children. There is hope among hostage families that Trump's involvement in securing the recent ceasefire between Israel and Iran might exert more pressure for a deal in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is riding a wave of public support for the Iran war and its achievements, and he could feel he has more space to move toward ending the war in Gaza, something his far-right governing partners oppose. Hamas has repeatedly said it is prepared to free all the hostages in exchange for an end to the war in Gaza. Netanyahu says he will only end the war once Hamas is disarmed and exiled, something the group has rejected. Meanwhile hungry Palestinians are enduring a catastrophic situation in Gaza. After blocking all food for 2 1/2 months, Israel has allowed only a trickle of supplies into the territory since mid-May. Efforts by the United Nations to distribute the food have been plagued by armed gangs looting trucks and by crowds of desperate people offloading supplies from convoys. Palestinians have also been shot and wounded while on their way to get food at newly formed aid sites, run by the American and Israeli backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to Gaza's health officials and witnesses. Palestinian witnesses say Israeli troops have opened fire at crowds on the roads heading toward the sites. Israel's military said it was investigating incidents in which civilians had been harmed while approaching the sites.
New York Post
an hour ago
- New York Post
Iranian crowds chant ‘Death to America, Israel' during funeral for top commanders, scientists killed in Israeli strikes
Thousands of mourners lined the streets of downtown Tehran on Saturday for the funeral of the head of the Revolutionary Guard and other top commanders and nuclear scientists killed during a 12-day war with Israel. The caskets of Guard's chief Gen. Hossein Salami, the head of the Guard's ballistic missile program, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh and others were driven on trucks along the capital's Azadi Street as people in the crowds chanted: 'Death to America' and 'Death to Israel.' Salami and Hajizadeh were both killed on the first day of the war, June 13, as Israel launched a war it said meant to destroy Iran's nuclear program, specifically targeting military commanders, scientists and nuclear facilities. 8 Thousands of Iranians gather in the streets of Tehran to mourn the deaths of several Iranian armed forces generals and nuclear scientists killed in Israeli airstrikes during the '12-day War' on June 28, 2025. AP There was no immediate sign of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in the state broadcast of the funeral. Khamenei, who has not made a public appearance since before the outbreak of the war, has in past funerals held prayers for fallen commanders over their caskets before the open ceremonies, later aired on state television. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi was on hand, and state television reported that Gen. Esmail Qaani, who heads the foreign wing of the Revolutionary Guard, the Quds Force, and Gen. Ali Shamkhani were also among the mourners. Shamkhani, an adviser to Khamenei who was wounded in the first round of Israel's attack and hospitalized, was shown in a civilian suit leaning on a cane in an image distributed on state television's Telegram channel. Iran's Revolutionary Guard was created after its 1979 Islamic Revolution. 8 A truck carries the coffins of dead Iranian Revolutionary Guards commanders and other military officials. AFP via Getty Images 8 A truck carries the coffins during the funeral processions through the crowded streets of Tehran. AFP via Getty Images Since it was established, it has evolved from a paramilitary, domestic security force to a transnational force that has come to the aid of Tehran's allies in the Middle East, from Syria and Lebanon to Iraq. It operates in parallel to the country's existing armed forces and controls Iran's arsenal of ballistic missiles, which it has used to attack Israel twice during the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. Over 12 days before a ceasefire was declared on Tuesday, Israel claimed it killed around 30 Iranian commanders and 11 nuclear scientists, while hitting eight nuclear-related facilities and more than 720 military infrastructure sites. More than 1,000 people were killed, including at least 417 civilians, according to the Washington-based Human Rights Activists group. 8 An Iranian holds up a poster of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the late Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini during the state funeral on June 28, 2025. AFP via Getty Images 8 Mourners wave flags during the funeral procession. AFP via Getty Images Iran fired more than 550 ballistic missiles at Israel, most of which were intercepted, but those that got through caused damage in many areas and killed 28 people. Saturday's ceremonies were the first public funerals for top commanders since the cease-fire, and Iranian state television reported that they were for 60 people in total, including four women and four children. Authorities closed government offices to allow public servants to attend the ceremonies. 8 A mourner holds a picture of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, who was killed by Israeli airstrikes. AP 8 Armed guards positioned on the rooftops overlooking the funeral procession in Tehran, Iran on June 28, 2025. via REUTERS Iran has always insisted its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes. But Israel views it as an existential threat and said its military campaign was necessary to prevent Iran from building an atomic weapon. Khamenei's last public appearance was June 11, two days before hostilities with Israel broke out, when he met with Iranian parliamentarians. On Thursday, however, he released a pre-recorded video, in his first message since the end of the war, filled with warnings and threats directed toward the United States and Israel, the Islamic Republic's longtime adversaries. 8 Flowers are placed on the flag-draped coffin of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Commander Hossein Salami. AFP via Getty Images The 86-year-old downplayed US strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites as having not achieved 'anything significant' and claimed victory over Israel. The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency, Rafael Grossi, has characterized the damage done by American bunker-buster bombs to Iran's Fordo nuclear site, which was built into a mountain, as 'very, very, very considerable.'
Boston Globe
2 hours ago
- Boston Globe
The biggest losers in the bombing of Iran? The Iranian people.
Under the grip of this regime for the past 46 years, mismanagement and corruption have deepened societal cleavages. Iran's Advertisement One of the paradoxes of governments that rely on coercion is that they are often frightened of their own people. In Iran, that fear has been amplified in the aftermath of the regime's evident vulnerability and incompetence in the face of its foremost adversaries' bombardment. The conflict has decimated the top echelons of the security services, killing as many as 14 generals. Israel has also attacked paramilitary and intelligence installations critical to the coercive apparatus of the state. Advertisement But today, they are too traumatized to revolt. And the Islamic Republic's multilayered elite structure has already generated replacements for the cadres eliminated in the Israeli strikes. The strikes have intensified the apprehensions of Iran's leaders toward their disillusioned citizenry. Just as in the aftermath of previous security crises, such a series of 1981 terrorist attacks against the regime or the 1988 cease-fire with Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, Tehran is responding to external threats with an internal crackdown. The regime is already engaging in mass arrests and show trials are sure to follow. The masses and public figures are enjoined to support the regime. In the name of rooting out the internal collaborators who enabled Israel's devastating initial attacks, scores will be settled and revenge taken. Iran's repressive political atmosphere will become even more stifling. An insecure regime looking to reestablish its deterrent posture is unlikely to relent anytime soon. For the past two decades, the United States has imposed crippling sanctions on Iran primarily in the name of arms control. The sanctions have debilitated Iran's economy, precipitating inflation, currency crisis, and unemployment. Throughout the tortuous path of talks with Iran, Washington and its international partners sought to utilize the sanctions as a tool to persuade Iran to concede core aspects of its nuclear program. In practice, the proposition of sanctions relief has always proven less compelling in advancing diplomatic solutions, especially for a target with as much experience with this tool as Tehran. Its leaders are all too aware that the US measures that severed Iran's ties to the international financial system have a peculiar afterlife, as jittery banks and businesses tend to steer clear long after their expiration. Advertisement Now, the relative success of the strikes on Iran have upended the central logic of international diplomacy around the Iranian nuclear challenge. The world now has another path to disarming Tehran — Israeli and American military action. The strategy of restraining Iran's nuclear advances by offering economic incentives in exchange for compliance with its arms control obligations will now be eclipsed by a more potent tool — additional attacks. A regime humiliated and antagonized by bombardment is likely to double down on reestablishing deterrence through its familiar tools of terror and covert nuclear investments. Meanwhile, the cost of sanctions will continue to be borne by ordinary Iranians. Iran's economy will continue to be hollowed out, the aspirations of another generation crushed, and a once proud and prosperous nation sinking further into impoverishment and isolation. Today, the Iranian people are caught between cruel rulers and an indifferent international community. The Islamic Republic endures and will continue to wage its struggle against the West. Anti-Americanism is core to the regime's identity. As Iranian leaders seek to reconstitute the nuclear program covertly, it's likely that new coercive measures will be deployed against Iran as Western spymasters will likely catch the regime red-handed. Military force is now the instrument of arms control. Advertisement In the midst of all this stand the Iranian people, abused and alone. Peace and security in the Middle East will not be possible until they have a meaningful say in their nation's destiny.
