The Israeli military said Monday that it can now fly over the country's capital, Tehran, without facing major resistance after crippling Iran’s air defenses in recent strikes, enabling Israel to hit an expanding range of targets with relative ease.

The Iranian military's new head of emergency command was killed in an Israeli Air Force strike only four days after his predecessor was killed in the initial hours of Israel's strikes targeting Iran's nuclear program.

Israel and Iran have begun a new round of attacks, as the conflict between the two heavily armed rivals enters its fourth day.

Iran and Israel continued to exchange attacks into Monday amid the latest round of conflict between the two nations.

As Israel pounds Iran with airstrikes targeting military facilities and its nuclear sites, officials in Tehran have proposed a variety of steps the Islamic Republic could take outside of launching retaliatory missile barrages.

Israel's military said on Tuesday it had killed Ali Shadmani, who it identified as Iran's armed forces' chief of staff and said was the most senior military commander. (Reporting by Jana Choukeir; Editing by Alex Richardson) Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

The conflict between Israel and Iran has shaped the Middle East for decades. It was largely on a low boil as the two sides attacked each other — mostly quietly and in Iran’s case often by proxy — while avoiding a full-blown war.

Israel stunned Iran last week with an intelligence and military operation years in the making that struck high-level targets with precision.