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IDF says it killed top Iran intel official in Tehran strike earlier this week

By Emanuel Fabian 20 March 2026, 3:54 pm
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Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian is The Times of Israel's military correspondent

A top official in Iran’s Intelligence Ministry was killed in an airstrike in Tehran earlier this week, IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin says in a press conference.

Defrin says the strike on Wednesday that killed Mehdi Rastami Shamastan came following “joint intelligence research by the Military Intelligence Directorate, the Mossad and the Shin Bet.”

Shamastan was “a key figure in advancing terror activity against Israeli and Jewish civilians in Israel and around the world,” he says.

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