Iranian state television has confirmed that Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, was killed in an Israeli airstrike.

“Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, has been killed,” Iranian state TV reported on June 13.

Iranian media initially denied Israeli claims, saying Bagheri was still alive and operating from a command center. However, authorities later confirmed that the senior military official had died.

In the early hours of June 13, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched a preemptive air campaign targeting Iran’s nuclear and military facilities, triggering a series of powerful explosions in the capital Tehran and the city of Natanz in Isfahan Province. Israel said Iran was close to acquiring enough enriched uranium to build several nuclear weapons, arguing that the IDF “had to act against this imminent threat.”

Bagheri was born in Tehran, though sources differ on his year of birth. Some, including the United States Department of the Treasury, say he was born in 1960, while others list 1958. A military intelligence specialist, he joined the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in 1980 and fought in the Iran–Iraq War during the 1980s. In June 2016, he was appointed Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, the highest-ranking position in Iran’s military.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said the Israeli strikes had killed several Iranian commanders and scientists, including IRGC chief Hossein Salami, and warned that Israel would face severe punishment.