Top Iranian commander and 'an architect of October 7' killed in airstrikes, Israel says
21 June 2025, 14:23
A veteran Iranian commander who was “one of the architects” of Hamas’s October 7 attacks has been killed in airstrike, Israel has claimed.
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Saeed Izadi, the head of the Palestine Corps in the IRGC Quds Force, was allegedly killed in apartment in Iran's Qom province by an Israeli airstrike amid the ongoing missile exchanges with Iran.
The Quds Force is an elite arm of its Revolutionary Guard that conducts military and intelligence operations outside Iran.
According to Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz, Izadi financed and armed Hamas during its attacks on Israel on October 7.
Israel's Defence Force (IDF) described him as “one of the architects” of Hamas’s October 7, 2023, terror attacks, “and among the few who knew of it prior to its execution".
Katz hailed his death as a "major achievement for Israeli intelligence and the Air Force".
Benham Shariyari, another commander of the Guards', was also reportedly killed during a strike on his vehicle overnight in western Tehran overnight.
Israel's Defence Force (IDF) claimed he "was responsible for all weapons transfers from the Iranian regime to its proxies across the Middle East".
That includes missiles and rockets launched at Israel by Hezbollah, Hamas and Yemen's Houthis, the IDF said.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military has also released video and photos it alleges shows an attack on the Isfahan nuclear facility.
“This is what the nuclear facility in Isfahan looks like, which is used to convert uranium, which is the stage that follows the enrichment stage on the way to producing nuclear weapons,” army spokesman Avichay Adraee wrote in a post.
“The air force struck the central facility along with buildings used to produce centrifuges. We continue to strike the Iranian nuclear project,” he added.
Iran and Israel have exchanged fresh attacks on Saturday morning, with the death toll on the Iranian side reaching more than 400, according to the country's health ministry.
On Friday, the Foreign Office announced that UK staff had also been evacuated from Iran, with the embassy continuing to operate remotely.
“Due to the current security situation, we have taken the precautionary measure to temporarily withdraw our UK staff from Iran," the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said in a statement on Friday."Our embassy continues to operate remotely,” the foreign ministry said in a statement."
Less than 24 hours after Donald Trump announced the US would make a decision the Israel-Iran conflict "in the next two weeks", as the White House slowed its timeline for any potential involvement.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy has pleaded with Washington to negotiate with Iran amid the "perilous" fighting between Iran and Israel.
Mr Lammy said Britain is “keen to continue ongoing discussions and negotiations with Iran, and we urge Iran to continue their talks with the United States”.
“We were clear: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” he added.His comments came following a meeting with Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi in Geneva on Friday with foreign ministers from France and Germany and the EU’s foreign policy chief.
Speaking after the meeting, Mr Lammy told reporters: “It is still clear to me, as President Trump indicated yesterday, that there is a window of within two weeks where we can see a diplomatic solution.”
Urging Iran to “take that off ramp” and talk to the Americans, he said: “We have a window of time. This is perilous and deadly serious.”
