Israel says it killed top Iran commander during attacks by both sides

(Reuters)

JERUSALEM/ISTANBUL/WASHINGTON, June 21 – Israel said on Saturday it had killed a veteran Iranian commander during attacks by both sides in the more than week-long air war, while Tehran said it would not negotiate over its nuclear programme while under threat.

Saeed Izadi, who led the Palestine Corps of the Quds Force, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ overseas arm, was killed in a strike on an apartment in the Iranian city of Qom, said Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz.

Calling his killing a “major achievement for Israeli intelligence and the Air Force”, Katz said in a statement that Izadi had financed and armed the Palestinian militant group Hamas ahead of its October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which triggered the war in Gaza.

The Revolutionary Guards said five of its members died in attacks on Khorramabad, according to Iranian media. They did not mention Izadi, who was on U.S. and British sanctions lists.

Iranian media said earlier on Saturday that Israel had attacked a building in Qom, with initial reports of a 16-year-old killed and two people injured.

At least 430 people have been killed and 3,500 injured in Iran since Israel began its attacks on June 13, Iranian state-run Nour News said, citing the health ministry.

In Israel, 24 civilians have been killed by Iranian missile attacks, according to local authorities, in the worst conflict between the longtime enemies.

Israel says Iran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons, while Iran says its atomic programme is only for peaceful purposes.

Israel is widely assumed to possess nuclear weapons, which it neither confirms nor denies.