Israel says it targeted leadership in Tehran based on intelligence

Israeli forces targeted members of the Iranian leadership by simultaneously bombing a number of locations in Tehran when launching coordinated attacks with the United States on Iran on Saturday morning, according to the Israeli military.

The military said that the targets included locations where "high-ranking representatives of Iran's political and security leadership were gathering."

It said that preparations for the attacks had been ongoing for months with the support of military intelligence, with the aim of "identifying the operative moment at which the leading representatives of the region gather."

It added that the decision to attack in the morning and not at night had been deliberate and that Israel had for the second time managed "to achieve tactical surprise, despite comprehensive Iranian preparations" by precisely localizing commanders and top leaders.

The military said it was checking the effects of the initial attack and was readying itself for a possible widening of the conflict beyond Iran.

Iranian reports from Tehran suggest top leaders are still alive after the attacks.