Israel used a powerful ballistic missile that flew to the edge of space before plummeting to Earth and blasting Iran’s supreme leader last Saturday.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s reward came from heaven.
Israel used a powerful ballistic missile that flew to the edge of space before plummeting to Earth and blasting Iran’s Supreme Leader and dozens of his top henchmen last Saturday.
The Blue Sparrow, a missile that can fly for 1240 miles (1996 kilometres) and leaves the Earth’s atmosphere before crashing down, was used by Israel during Operation Epic Fury, killing Khamenei and his cohorts on Saturday.
So intense was the impact of the missile that debris was found in western Iraq, according to Israeli sources.
Israeli F-15 jets and other aircraft were deployed at around 7.30am Iran time, with the aircraft unleashing 30 missiles, including Blue Sparrows, to the heart of the Ayatollah’s compound about two hours later.
The missile’s ability to exit and re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere make them nearly impossible to intercept, allowing the bombs to clear Iran’s defence systems.
Blue Sparrows are typically launched from fighter jets, with their booster rockets taking them to space so the bombs may hover over their intended target.
The Blue Sparrow was originally designed to evade air defence systems given their high speed, with Israel believed to have used them during the 2024 assault on Iran.
The assault on Khamenei’s compound came after the Israeli government offered Iranian leaders a false sense of security leading up to the air strikes.
On the Friday leading up to the attack, officials deliberately gave the impression that its military was standing down for the weekend, an Israel Defense Forces official told reporters Thursday.
“We released photos and information suggesting that IDF staff and senior command were going home for Shabbat dinner,” said the official, who did not want to be named, according to the BBC.
But instead IDF leaders returned to work in the hours before launching deadly air strikes with the United States that took out Khamenei and a rash of other top leaders.
While the strikes were originally planned for night-time, the schedule was shifted to exploit a Saturday morning meeting of Iran’s top officials, people familiar with the operation told The New York Times.
As the initial wave of strikes showered over the rival nation, both the IDF and US war rooms were synchronised in real time to make on-the-fly adjustments based on the Iranian response, the IDF official said Thursday.
The assault saw the IDF simultaneously disrupt around a dozen mobile phone towers near Khamenei’s compound to keep his security from receiving any possible warnings.
The attack was put into motion because Iran’s nuclear program was being moved too deep underground to be dismantled by conventional means and the escalation of Iranian ballistic missile production, the IDF official added.
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