The successful hit reportedly hobbled Iran’s ability to respond to the first wave of Israeli Air Force strikes across the country
June 17, 2025 09:48
Israel secret services used a fake phone call to trick the top commanders of Iran’s air force into gathering at a single location before taking them out in a targeted strike, an Israeli Channel 12 commentator has said.
In a statement confirmed to the JC by Israeli sources, Amit Segal told the Call Me Back podcast on Monday: “What Israel did was create a fake phone call for 20 members of the air force senior staff an calling them to a specific bunker in Tehran.”
This meant there was no one to give the order to fire the initial salvo of 1,000 ballistic missiles as Iran had previously threatened to do, he added.
According to sources familiar with the operation, Mossad initiated a targeted disinformation effort days before the strike.
Using falsified communications through Iranian channels, they triggered what appeared to be an emergency meeting.
The ruse successfully drew the entire senior leadership of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force, including Commander General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, his deputies, and key technical personnel, into a fortified bunker outside Tehran.
Moments before the strike began, that bunker was hit in a precision airstrike, eliminating Iran’s top missile command.
Israeli officials say the goal was clear; prevent the launch of what was believed to be over 1,000 ballistic missiles aimed at Israeli territory. There was absolutely no one alive to give the command to strike back.
Immediately afterwards, Israel launched a sweeping campaign across Tehran and other strategic areas, hitting missile sites, infrastructure, and air defences.
A senior Israeli security official told Fox News that Israel successfully eliminated most of the IRGC’s air force leadership in the strike on June 13.
“We carried out specific activities to help us learn more about them, and then used that information to influence their behaviour,” the official said. “We knew this would lead them to meet, but more importantly, we knew how to keep them there.”
According to the official, the strike was even more effective than expected. He added that the impact of the strike on the commanders was multiplied when Israel used drones to take out air defence systems and ballistic missiles across the country shortly afterwards.
Israel said on Tuesday it had eliminated the replacement of one of the commanders killed in that initial strike on June 13.
Maj. Gen. Ali Shadmani, who commanded both the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Iranian army, was killed in a strike on a command centre in the heart of Tehran, according to an Israel Defense Forces Statement.
He was appointed emergency commander of the Iranian Armed Forces after his predecessor, Maj. Gen. Gholam Ali Rashid, was eliminated in the opening strike of "Operation Rising Lion” on June 13.
Before his predecessor’s elimination, Shamdani had served as deputy commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya emergency command center, and as head of the Iranian Armed Forces' Operations Directorate.
In January, Shamdani confirmed Iran’s purchase of advanced Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets from Russia as it sought to modernize its aging air force, according to the outlet Defense Security Asia.