Israel targeted Iranian military commanders and nuclear scientists who had previously been placed on international sanctions lists.
The assassinated officials had been sanctioned by the United States and European Union for years before Israeli strikes killed them at their homes and workplaces.
The targets included Iran’s top military leadership and prominent nuclear scientists, along with defense facilities that had been subject to international sanctions.
Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Chief of Staff of Armed Forces
General Bagheri was targeted at his home during Israeli airstrikes at dawn on June 13 and was killed along with his daughter Fereshteh Bagheri.
Bagheri was placed on the sanctions list by the U.S. Treasury Department in November 2019.
The Canadian government also sanctioned him in October 2022 for human rights violations, and he was simultaneously sanctioned by the European Union for sending drones to Russia for use in attacks on Ukraine.
Major General Hossein Salami, Commander of the IRGC
General Salami was targeted at his home in the Mahallati neighborhood during Israeli airstrikes at dawn on June 13 and was killed.
The European Union had sanctioned him in April 2020 for suppressing protesters during the November 2019 protests.
Major General Gholamali Rashid, Commander of Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters
General Rashid was targeted at his home during Israeli airstrikes at dawn on June 13 and was killed along with his son.
His successor, General Ali Shadmani, was also killed about 10 days after his appointment as commander of Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, during Israeli airstrikes.
General Rashid had been sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department in November 2019 on charges of torture, extrajudicial killings, and suppression of protesters.
Major General Mohammad Saeed Izadi, Deputy Commander of Quds Force (Palestine Branch)
General Izadi was targeted and killed on June 21 during an Israeli attack on his home on Imam Sajjad Street in the Salariyeh neighborhood of Qom.
He had been placed on the U.S. Treasury Department’s sanctions list in September 2019 as “one of the leaders of terrorist groups.”
Britain also added him to its sanctions list in December 2023, along with Esmail Qaani, commander of the Quds Force, Ali Morshed Shirazi, Majid Zarei - whose name also appeared among those killed in the Israeli attack on the Seyyed al-Shohada IRGC headquarters in Tehran province - and Mostafa Majidkhani, members of the Palestine branch of the Quds Force.
Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, Commander of IRGC Air Force
General Hajizadeh was killed during Israeli airstrikes at dawn on June 13, at one of the command headquarters along with seven other Air Force members who were accompanying him.
He had been placed on the U.S. Treasury Department’s sanctions list in 2019.
Brigadier General Mohammad Kazemi, Head of IRGC Intelligence Protection
General Mohammad Kazemi was killed on June 15 after an Israeli attack on the IRGC Intelligence Organization building along with his deputies.
He was sanctioned in November 2022 by the U.S. Treasury and State Departments in a joint action for continuing to suppress protesters in nationwide protests.
The Biden administration also sanctioned him on April 27, 2023, for complicity in the detention of American citizens abroad.
Israel targeted 13 nuclear scientists during the 12-day war against Iran, four of whom were prominent and had previously been sanctioned.
Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchian, President of Islamic Azad University
Tehranchian, an active member of the Amad nuclear project, was targeted and killed at his home on June 13 during Israeli attacks on Iran. The U.S. State Department had placed him on the sanctions list on March 18, 2020.
Fereydoun Abbasi, Former Head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization
Abbasi, a nuclear scientist, was targeted and killed at his home on June 13, 2025, during Israeli attacks on Iran.
He had previously survived an assassination attempt in 2010. Abbasi was sanctioned in 2007 under UN Security Council Resolution 1747, though his sanctions were lifted in 2020 under Resolution 2231 simultaneously with the lifting of Iran’s arms embargoes.
Mohammad Reza Sadeqi Saber, Nuclear Scientist
Mohammad Reza Sadeqi Saber, an Iranian physicist whose home was attacked by the Israeli military on June 13 and who had survived, was again targeted and killed on June 24 at his father-in-law’s house in northern Gilan.
The U.S. Treasury Department had sanctioned him two months earlier in connection with nuclear weapons proliferation.
Saeed Borji, Nuclear Scientist
Saeed Borji was one of Iran’s prominent scientists in defense technologies who was killed in the evening attack of June 13 by Israel on Iran.
The U.S. Treasury Department placed him on the sanctions list in 2018 for his role in developing explosive-related technologies.
Nine other nuclear scientists were also killed.
Amirhossein Faqehi, Ahmadreza Zolfaghari, and Abdolhamid Minouchehr from Shahid Beheshti University faculty; Akbar Motalebizadeh, physicist; Mansour Asgari, advanced technology researcher; Ali Bekaei Karimi, engineering sciences researcher; Ali Bakouei Karimi, physicist; Majid Tajan Jari, prominent artificial intelligence pioneer; Mohammad Reza Zakerian, prominent artificial intelligence specialist and technology researcher; and Isar Tabatabaei Qomsheh, nuclear industry activist.
Infrastructure Targets: Companies and Facilities
In addition to assassinating military generals and nuclear scientists, Israel also targeted companies and industrial and research facilities that had previously been sanctioned in connection with Iran’s nuclear activities.
According to reports, the most important Israeli attack targets related to Iran’s nuclear activities included:
Iran Electronics Industries Company
Iran Electronics Industries, a key supplier of centrifuge components and subsidiary of the Atomic Energy Organization, at the Natanz complex and its industrial branches in Kashan and Isfahan, were targeted for bombing.
Shiraz Electric Industries was also militarily targeted. Iran Electronics Industries has been on the U.S. sanctions list since 2007.
Iran Centrifuge Technology Company Operational Sites
Development centers for new generations of centrifuges (IR-4 and IR-6) at Natanz and Fordow facilities came under direct drone and missile attacks by Israel and the United States. The company has been on the U.S. sanctions list since 2012.
SATEC Company
SATEC is said to be active in supplying precision devices and controlling sensitive processes in nuclear facilities.
The warehouse and main building of this company in southern Isfahan were attacked by Israel. The company was also on the U.S. sanctions list.
Other targeted entities included the New Energy Development Company in Khondab of central Arak and the industrial and laboratory centers of the Defense Research and Innovation Organization in the Parchin area of Tehran.
These companies were sanctioned by the United States and European Union for direct cooperation with enrichment programs, centrifuge development, and efforts to redesign nuclear activities.
Iran has not yet released precise information about the centers targeted by Israeli attacks and the extent of damage, but what is clear is that most of these centers had previously been sanctioned by the United States or European Union.
Iranian military leaders had previously dismissed sanctions as ineffective. Major General Mohammad Bagheri had mockingly responded to European Union sanctions against him: “I have a humanitarian proposal for the European Union.
From today, I authorize them to implement the sanctions they have prepared. They are permitted to identify and confiscate all assets and properties of Major General Mohammad Hossein Bagheri in banks worldwide and spend them on buying coal for European citizens. A hard winter is ahead.”
Hossein Salami had also called the sanctioning of military commanders passive and the peak of “American desperation.”
Brigadier General Hajizadeh believed the sanctions weapon was empty of ammunition, that the enemy had reached the end of the line, and it was time for Iran’s counterattack.
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