The United States and Israel have intensified precision strikes across Iran after the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, shifting focus toward internal security institutions that enforced domestic dissent. This turn matters now because the operations have struck both military assets and the regime’s domestic policing organs, a combination that could erode Tehran’s capacity to control protests while widening regional instability.
1 Impact on Law Enforcement Command, Sarallah Headquarters and Basij Bases
In the opening phase of the campaign, allied forces struck and killed senior figures within Iran’s internal security establishment and targeted key facilities responsible for controlling unrest. The Law Enforcement Command headquarters in Tehran was hit, and its intelligence chief, Gholamreza Rezaian, was killed. The Israel Defense Forces also struck the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Ground Forces Sarallah Headquarters in Tehran, a unit tasked with the capital’s security that oversees operational divisions in Karaj and Tehran city. Basij bases in Kermanshah and Tehran provinces were among additional internal-security targets struck; those units had been implicated in suppressing the December 2025–January 2026 protest movement.
The immediate effect is a likely degradation in the regime’s ability and willingness to deploy the same security apparatus that quelled recent protests. What makes this notable is the deliberate coupling of decapitation strikes on leadership with attacks on the institutions that carried out repression, a strategy intended not only to remove individual commanders but to disrupt chains of command and the practical capacity to police mass unrest.
IDF and United States Central Command: Wide Geographic Reach and Maritime Actions
Over the past day allied strikes hit hundreds of targets across Iran, striking the Iranian Broadcasting Authority building in Tehran and the “Imam Ali” missile base in Kermanshah. Fighter jets were struck in Tabriz, and additional strikes occurred in Bandar Abbas, Shiraz, Mashhad and Rezvanshahr. United States Central Command reported sinking an Iranian warship, and maritime activity in the Strait of Hormuz was effectively curtailed as attacks on vessels increased.
Iranian-linked unmanned aerial vehicles struck Duqm Port in Oman, injuring one person, and an assault on the oil tanker Skylight off Oman wounded four of its 20 crew members; the entire crew was evacuated after that attack. The campaign has also produced direct combat casualties among American forces: three U. S. soldiers were killed and five were seriously wounded in an Iranian attack.
Leadership Losses, Missile Inventory and Sustained Barrages
The allied operation has eliminated a number of senior Iranian officials, beginning with the death of Ali Khamenei and including figures such as Ali Shamkhani, Mohammad Shirazi, Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh, IRGC Commander Mohammad Pakpour, and the former and current heads of the SPND research organization. The removal of multiple senior commanders and security chiefs represents a concentrated decapitation campaign aimed at the regime’s military and intelligence leadership.
At the same time, Iran has continued missile and UAV launches. The Israel Defense Forces assesses Iran currently possesses up to approximately 2, 500 ballistic missiles, down from an estimated 3, 000 on the eve of the June 2025 operations. Iranian efforts to restore missile production have accelerated; prior production rates were measured in dozens per month. Over the most recent 24-hour period, Iran launched frequent small barrages against population concentrations, producing prolonged shelter stays for civilians in Israel and registering 62 waves of attacks as of 17: 00 on the reporting day.
Political Messaging and Regional Mediation
Israeli leadership framed the next phase of operations in stark terms: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced plans to strike “thousands” of targets and urged Iranians to free themselves from tyranny. Meanwhile, Oman has engaged as a mediator channel, and its foreign minister has called for renewed negotiations. The involvement of Gulf ports and shipping lanes, plus attacks on vessels linked to the Gulf and Oman, has produced immediate commercial and security effects, including a de facto suspension of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
The combined operational focus—targeting both senior leadership and the domestic security organs that suppress dissent—creates simultaneous military and political pressure on Tehran. The tactic increases the risk of internal instability even as it seeks to dismantle the instruments the regime uses to control popular protest.
