At least 10 members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were killed in Israeli air strikes on Yazd province on Sunday, according to Iranian media reports. The attack marks one of the deadliest Israeli operations on Iranian soil since hostilities escalated earlier this month.
While Iran has not officially commented on the casualties in Yazd, Israeli officials claim to have eliminated around two dozen Iranian military commanders and nuclear scientists since June 13 as part of an ongoing campaign targeting Iran’s strategic infrastructure.
The IRGC, a key arm of Iran’s military under the direct command of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, oversees the country’s missile and nuclear programmes and plays a central role in regional operations. It fields roughly 190,000 active personnel and was designated a terrorist organisation by the United States in 2019.
Reports indicate that several other IRGC personnel were wounded in the latest strikes, as tensions between the two countries continue to intensify. Israeli air raids in recent weeks have killed several senior Iranian officials, including IRGC commander Hossein Salami, armed forces chief Mohammad Bagheri, aerospace division head Amir Ali Hajizadeh, and General Gholamali Rashid.
The IRGC has responded by deploying its Khorramshahr-4 missile, also known as the Kheibar Shekan, which carries Iran’s heaviest payload. Iranian sources claim the missile has been used to target Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport and research facilities.
The initial wave of Israeli strikes, involving about 200 fighter jets, targeted multiple Iranian cities including Tehran, Isfahan, Arak, Tabriz, and Kermanshah, where an underground missile storage facility was reportedly destroyed. Human Rights Activists (HRA), a US-based monitoring group, estimates that Israeli operations have killed at least 950 people — including 380 civilians — and injured over 3,450 since the start of hostilities. Iran’s Health Ministry has reported significantly lower figures: around 400 dead and more than 3,000 injured.
Among those wounded is senior Iranian diplomat Ali Shamkhani, who has been leading back-channel talks with Washington. He is said to be in critical condition.
Following the assassinations, Ayatollah Khamenei appointed Ahmad Vahidi as the new IRGC chief and Majid Mousavi as head of the aerospace division.
