Israel’s strike on Iran was far more than just about destroying the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program. It crippled Iran’s air defenses, hit the nuclear facilities and targeted top military officials, including the commander of the Islamic Republic Guard Corps.

“Israel’s strike on Natanz was not a limited tactical action, it was a multidimensional strategic takedown,” suggested geopolitical analyst Irina Tsukerman, president and founder of threat assessment firm Scarab Rising.

She told The National Interest that the damage to Iran’s premier uranium enrichment facility was catastrophic. What set the attack apart from past strikes, such as the 1981 raid that destroyed Iraq’s nuclear program, was how it resulted in the near-total decapitation of Tehran’s military and strategic brain trust in a single coordinated campaign.

“IRGC Commander Hossein Salami, long seen as the keystone of Iran’s hybrid warfare doctrine, was killed in a precision strike outside Tehran,” Tsukerman added.

Iran Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei’s national security adviser, Ali Shamkhani, perhaps the regime’s most trusted crisis manager and internal mediator, was eliminated in Qom.

“Their deaths alone would have constituted a major strategic disruption,” said Tsukerman, who noted that the targeting went deeper. 

“Gen. Mohammad Reza Hassani, commander of the IRGC’s integrated air defense systems, was killed in a strike near Shiraz, his death leaving Iran’s already overburdened and fragmented air shield wide open. Brig. Gen. Kaveh Nourani, director of ballistic missile development and the overseer of Iran’s Shahid Hemmat Industries Group, was also confirmed dead. His facility outside Semnan was reduced to twisted scaffolding and heat signatures.”

Others killed included Gen. Hamid Zamani, a key planner for Quds Force operations in Iraq and Syria, during a meeting near Esfahan. Two nuclear physicists, including Dr. Keyvan Daneshgar, head of cascade enrichment design at Fordow, and Dr. Farhad Jalili, a pioneer in isotope modeling and uranium metal experimentation, were also among those killed in the raid.

“These were not collateral casualties,” Tsukerman explained. “These were deliberate, high-value takedowns executed in synchronized sequence.”

This further sets it apart from past raids carried out by the IAF, including June 1981’s Operation Opera, which destroyed the Iraqi nuclear program. That mission included over a dozen American-made F-15 Eagles and F-16 Fighting Falcons.

“The biggest difference I see between the 1981 strike and this week’s events is a focus on a more comprehensive campaign,” explained Col. William “Burner” Dunn, United States Marine (Retired) and author of Gunfighters Rule! 

“Israel not only attacked the nuclear facilities, but they also struck devastating blows to Iranian military leadership. By cutting the leadership out of the decision cycle, it will allow Israel more time to conduct its campaign before Iran can develop a more substantial response.”

Israel’s

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