Foreign media: According to an Israeli military official and a source familiar with the matter, Israel and the United States spent weeks tracking the movements of senior Iranian leaders, including Supreme Leader Khamenei, and shared intelligence in real time, ultimately planning this surprise daylight strike.
The U.S.-Israel joint air strike was almost simultaneous, carrying out three strikes on three locations within a minute, killing Khamenei and about 40 other senior Iranian officials on the spot, including the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Minister of Defense. The official said that choosing to strike during the day was to create additional surprise - multiple targets being struck rapidly in succession, preventing key figures from fleeing after the first wave of attacks. Intelligence showed that several core targets happened to be gathered together before the attack, which presented a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" for this operation. Israel had used a similar tactic at the beginning of the war last June, also killing several senior Iranian officials.
Additionally, the official mentioned that Khamenei had posted on social media several days before the attack, mocking Trump, showing that he had no idea about the strike operation.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1858536820023367/
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